Wardah Khalid is a 2022 Atlantic Council Millennium Leadership fellow and serves as senior policy adviser at the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the US Department of Health and Human Services. She is the founder and board president of Poligon Education Fund, a nonprofit strengthening Muslim engagement with Congress. She is also a career coach.

Khalid has significant experience working with members of the US Congress, the White House, and the US Department of State on policies pertaining to refugees and immigration, civil rights, foreign affairs, and national security. She has also worked on these issues with several United Nations agencies in the United States and abroad.

Khalid’s writing and commentary has been featured in numerous national and international outlets, and she was featured on ABC’s Nightline as one of the country’s top millennial activists. Khalid holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, focused on human rights and humanitarian policy and Middle East studies. She is a certified public accountant and received a BBA and MS in accounting from Texas A&M University.