New York City – HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, has tapped Mark
Hetfield to serve as senior vice president for policy and programs.
Hetfield will oversee HIAS’ Washington, D.C., office as well as the
organization’s domestic and international program operations. He was
named to his new post by Gideon Aronoff, who became HIAS’ new president
and CEO earlier this spring.

“ Mark Hetfield has been and will be an
invaluable asset to HIAS,” says Aronoff. “His work with us in the past
will serve as a great foundation for what he’ll be doing in his new
job. We’re thrilled that he agreed to come back to HIAS.”

Before
taking the new role at HIAS, Hetfield served as immigration counsel and
director of international refugee issues for the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), where he
directed all aspects of the comprehensive study on the treatment of
asylum seekers in the U.S. Hetfield was a contributing author and
editor-in-chief of the 520-page study, which was well received by
government officials, congress and the press, including front page
coverage in the New York Times.

Hetfield
also worked as an appeals officer and supervisory appeals officer with
the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in Washington D.C.,
where he supervised INS officers adjudicating appeals from decisions on
applications for adjustment of immigration status. While at INS, he
also served overseas as the assistant officer-in-charge of adjudicating
refugee claims at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti.

Hetfield
has had a long association with HIAS, beginning as a caseworker in Rome
in 1989, where he utilized his Russian language skills in assisting
nationals from the former Soviet Union. He later moved on to
Washington, D.C., where he became HIAS’ Washington representative and
attorney-advisor. While in this capacity he prepared and presented
legal and policy positions on immigration and refugee matters to the
White House and Congress, the INS, the Department of State, and the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Hetfield subsequently
moved on to New York, where he became director of international
operations at HIAS’ world headquarters. In that capacity he forged new
partnerships with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and
helped establish the first HIAS program in sub-Saharan Africa – the
HIAS Refugee Trust of Kenya. He also oversaw HIAS’ operations in
Austria, Argentina, Israel, Russia, and Ukraine.

Hetfield received a JD degree cum laude
from the Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Science in
Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University School of Foreign
Service. He is a member of the state bars of New Jersey and Florida.