Biography: Deputy Director General for Management and Reform

Amy E. Pope

On 31 May 2021, Amy Pope was appointed as IOM’s Deputy Director General for Management and Reform, taking office on 1 September 2021. On 15 May 2023, the Member States of IOM elected Ms. Pope as its next Director General during the 6th Special Session of the IOM Council. The first woman to lead IOM, Ms. Pope will assume her duties for a five-year term beginning on 1 October 2023.

Amy Pope is a transformative leader in international migration policy with demonstrated experience improving complex organizations. She has extensive technical knowledge of migration challenges that span the breadth of IOM’s engagement, experience managing large-scale budgets and operations, and is an innovative and strategic thinker with a proven ability to translate policies into actionable steps.

Prior to joining IOM, Amy Pope served as the Senior Advisor on Migration to President Biden in 2021; Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Homeland Security Advisor from 2015-2017, and as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director on Transborder Security from 2013-2015. At the White House, she developed and implemented comprehensive strategies to manage migration surges, address trafficking in persons, respond to the Zika and Ebola outbreaks, and prepare communities to react to climate crises. Since then, she has continued to promote dialogue on global migration challenges through her academic writing and work with Chatham House. She has also occupied positions at the US Department of Justice and US Senate and was a Partner in the London-based law firm Schillings.

Amy Pope has guided government entities and private sector organizations through organizational change, working with them to better strategize, innovate, and manage risk. She has a strong record of developing staff and building empowered and diverse teams to achieve change – a skill that will serve as an asset to ongoing reforms at IOM. In addition, she has exceptional experience building partnerships and promoting collaboration. She has worked with multilateral organizations, governments, and community stakeholders to develop and execute policies on migration, refugee resettlement, and countering violent extremism.

Amy Pope graduated magna cum laude from the Duke University School of Law with a Juris Doctor and has a BA in Political Science (with Honors) from the Haverford College in Pennsylvania. Amy Pope is married and has two daughters.