Our team powers our mission and vision. We couldn’t accomplish much without their energy, dedication and talent.
Interested in joining VECINA’s team? Check out our current openings!
Alex Miller
Interim CEOalex@vecina.org(512) 277-3553Alex Miller is the Interim CEO at VECINA. She is deeply committed to the immigration justice movement and has broad experience representing asylum seekers, advocating for migrants’ access to justice, and working to amplify the impact of pro bono volunteers. After working in corporate law in New York for five years, Alex moved back to her hometown of Tucson, Arizona to work at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, ultimately leading their Border Action Team. From there, she joined the International Rescue Committee as the Director for Asylum Seekers and Families in Arizona, managing one of the primary border shelters in the state of Arizona. More recently, she was the Director of the Immigration Justice Campaign at the American Immigration Council, where she led a team dedicated to recruiting, training, and mentoring pro bono attorneys to increase migrants’ access to counsel. Alex attended Georgetown University for undergrad and Stanford Law School. Alex currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law, teaching Refugee Law and Policy at the University of Arizona.
Molly Chew
Project Directormolly@vecina.org(512) 277-3553Prior to coming on board with VECINA, Molly Chew spent nearly seven years working with unaccompanied refugee children and their families in an array of Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) contracted programs. This included ORR shelters, foster care, and home study/post-release services. Most recently, she was the Western Regional Supervisor for a program that made reunification recommendations for detained unaccompanied minors and connected these children and their families with community resources upon reunification. Additionally, Molly has spent ample time volunteering in Tijuana, Mexico with asylum seekers and spent a year volunteering with a New York-based legal aid organization that represented individuals who were seeking asylum or T Visas after having been trafficked or persecuted on account of their gender identity. Molly is a DOJ Accredited Representative and is obtaining her Master’s Degree in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies from the University of London. Molly lives in Portland, Oregon.
Jennie Guilfoyle
Legal Directorjennie@vecina.org(512) 277-3553Jennie Guilfoyle comes to us as the former Deputy Legal Director for the Immigration Justice Campaign at the American Immigration Council. Before joining the Council, she spent four years as an Attorney Adviser at the State Department in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, working on issues ranging from citizenship to intercountry adoption. Prior to that, she worked for many years as a Senior Training Attorney at the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, designing and leading in-person and online trainings on a wide range of immigration law topics. She also worked at Church World Service, where she trained refugee resettlement programs on immigration law and program management. She began her legal career as an Equal Justice Works fellow at the New York Association for New Americans, where she represented asylum and VAWA applicants. Jennie lives in Washington, D.C.
Lindsay Goldford Gray
Founder & Senior Advisorlindsay@vecina.org(512) 277-3553Lindsay Goldford Gray is the Founder of VECINA and lives in Austin, Texas. Prior to founding VECINA, Lindsay ran small immigration firm representing clients in a wide variety of immigration matters. Before becoming an immigration lawyer, Lindsay was a public defender for the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office. There she represented hundreds of clients in many aspects of litigation, including bond hearings, motions, and over twenty jury trials. Outside of VECINA, Lindsay has served as an adjunct professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, where she teaches Immigration Law in the online LLM/MLS program.
Karen Cepeda
Project Manager, ReUnitekaren@vecina.org(512) 277-3553Karen Cepeda was born in Colombia and she has called the United States, Brazil, and Argentina home. She worked as project coordinator for nearly a decade at a safety office that provided emergency support to journalists and their families in danger. Karen has spearheaded human rights campaigns and safety training programs for press workers in conflict zones throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. She has also worked in international human rights organizations that promote social justice. She is passionate about learning new languages, and the fight to overcome language barriers for immigrants. She is a volunteer interpreter for organizations that assist refugees and new asylees in the US., and was previously a VECINA ReUnite volunteer prior to joining our team. Karen lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Chelsea Mack
Mentoring Attorneychelsea@vecina.org(512) 277-3553Chelsea Mack joins VECINA after serving the immigrant population as an attorney with Brown Immigration Law handling a myriad of case types including asylum, family-based, citizenship and removal defense. She began her legal career focusing on the prosecution of child sacrifice cases as a legal fellow with the Directorate of Public Prosecutions in Kampala, Uganda in partnership with the Center for Global Justice housed within her alma mater, Regent University School of Law. Chelsea lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
Kristen Nilsen
Mentoring Attorneykristen@vecina.org(512) 277-3553Kristen Nilsen joins VECINA from private practice. For the past 5 years, she has run a solo practice in northern California, helping clients navigate our complex immigration laws. Prior to that, Kristen worked for Refugee Women’s Alliance and Lutheran Community Services Northwest as an immigration attorney, providing low-cost legal assistance to refugees with naturalization, adjustment of status, family petitions, and consular processing. She also trained and mentored new attorneys, law students, and accredited representatives in immigration law. Kristen began her career as an Immigration Services Officer with USCIS before transitioning to working with refugees. Kristen currently lives in Seattle, Washington.
Ashley DiGiore
Program Supportashley@vecina.org(512) 277-3553Ashley DiGiore has a background in education, receiving both her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Special Education. While working with a local community center, she had the opportunity to attend Villanova’s VIISTA program to develop her understanding of and find ways to help local immigrants. This awakened her passion for supporting immigrants, and while attending the VIISTA program, she began volunteering with many of VECINA’s programs. After completion of the VIISTA program, she then began developing an Immigration Legal Services program at the community center she was working at. She and the Westside Community Center received accreditation from the DOJ in September 2022, and she received accreditation with VECINA in October 2022. She is currently the Director of Westside’s immigration program and is thrilled to be joining the amazing team at VECINA. She lives on the east coast with her husband and two elementary aged children.
Michelle Morales
Mentoring Attorney, Switchboard Projectmichelle@vecina.org(512) 277-3553Michelle Morales is a contract mentoring attorney with VECINA’s Switchboard partnership. She runs a solo immigration practice in Silver Spring, Maryland, and is an Adjunct Professor at the George, Washington University Law School, where she teaches Immigration Law. Before starting her practice, she worked at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as an Asylum Officer, Refugee Officer, and trainer. She has worked in the nonprofit sector at Ayuda in Washington, DC and Central American Legal Assistance in Brooklyn, New York.