Our Staff
Maria Booth
Washington, DC Office Manager
Maria provides direct support to the policy, legal, and communication teams in D.C. Maria graduated from the College of William & Mary with degrees in History and Anthropology. She is currently completing her master’s degree in Comparative History with a focus on the politics of gender in Modern British history. Prior to joining the Immigration Equality team, Maria was a research assistant at the College of William & Mary and a Presson Archival Fellow at the Special Collections Research Center in Williamsburg, Virginia. E-mail mbooth@imeqactionfund.org
Jennifer Carrel
Operations Director
Working from our New York offices, Jennifer is responsible for the smooth and efficient day-to-day operation of the entire organization, including human resources, financial management, information technology, and managing our office managers. She holds an MBA from Indiana University and has a BA in Political Phiosophy and Art History from Earlham College. Jennifer brings over a decade of management experience to our expanding offices from her previous experience in knowledge management for the architecture firm Perkins Eastman and in the development team at the Whitney Museum. Email: jcarrel@imeqactionfund.org
Elisa Casinader
Office Manager & Technology Associate
Elisa is the Office Manager for the New York office and reports directly to and assists the Director of Operations. Managing the day-to-day flow of the office including vendor/database management and technical support, Elisa looks after the overall growth of the office. Elisa graduated from the Pratt Institute with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture and has been working in administrative development and the non-profit sector for three years. Prior to Immigration Equality, Elisa served as the Curriculum Developer & Media Instructor for Teen Entrepreneur Boot Camp, and Technology Instructor/Office Manager for Vision Education and Media teaching Robotics and Video Game Design to students K-8. As a performance artist, Elisa continues to build her artist portfolio concentrating on her video performance, photography and public interventions.
Win Chesson
Associate Development Director
Win works from our New York offices and is responsible for conceptualizing and executing the Action Fund’s fundraising activities, including special events, publications, and grant-writing. Win graduated as a Morehead Scholar from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with degrees in both International Studies and Women’s Studies, as well as a minor in Sexuality Studies. At UNC, he directed the 2007 Unity Conference, an annual gathering of progressive LGBT and allied activists from across the Southeast. Most recently, Win cycled across the country to raise money and awareness about the United States affordable housing crisis. E-mail wchesson@imeqactionfund.org
Christopher Taylor Edwards
Communications Manager
Christopher joined the organization in our New York offices after working as a grassroots volunteer, including designing our float for the San Francisco Pride Parade in 2004, leading our former DC Chapter, and co-organizing its annual Valentine's Day fundraiser. Throughout those eight and half years, he has been the American half of a binational couple. In addition to his volunteer work, Christopher has spent over a decade building a portfolio as a graphic designer and writer, including working with nonprofit clients as diverse as DC's Brainfood, SOS Children's Villages, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, and the DC Jazz Festival. Christopher studied anthropology at the University of Virginia and has a BFA in Media Arts from the California College of the Arts. Email ctedwards@imeqactionfund.org
Chris Fleming
Senior Manager Corporate Partnerships
Chris oversees corporate partnerships that support Immigration Equality and the Action Fund's work, focusing in particular on a Business Coalition for the Uniting American Families Act. He joined us after working as a consultant with Booz & Co., a general management consultancy based in New York. At Booz & Co. Chris worked with clients across industries on topics of organizational design and the role of corporate culture in change and performance, and led their LGBT staff affinity group. Chris graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor’s in Hispanic Studies and has traveled extensively in Central and South America. Email cfleming@imeqactionfund.org
Julie A. Kruse
Policy Director
Julie heads the Action Fund’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, where she works to advance the rights of LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants and their families and to create fully inclusive comprehensive immigration reform. She leads the national effort to pass the Uniting American Families Act. Julie holds a Master's in Education degree from Northwestern University. She has over 15 years of experience working for LGBT, immigrant, and women’s rights and economic justice, including serving as Interim Director of Legislative Affairs for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Director of Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships at the Center for Economic Progress, and as Vice President of Chicago Women in Trades. She worked with two Chicago-based Latino community programs and taught high school in Nicaragua. Julie led the national Immigrant Taxpayer Working Group and chaired the Employment and Pay Equity Working Group of the Illinois Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women. E-mail jkruse@imeqactionfund.org
Victoria Neilson
Legal Director
From our New York offices, Victoria runs the pro bono asylum project for our affiliate organization Immigration Equality and provides technical assistance and mentoring on LGBT and HIV immigration issues to attorneys around the country. She is the primary author of The LGBT/HIV Asylum Manual, a comprehensive guide for attorneys, and she has published extensively on legal issues facing LGBT and HIV-positive immigrants and refugees. Victoria received her law degree from the City University School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. Victoria is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and former chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on AIDS. She was a 2009 recipient of the LGBT Law Association of Greater New York (Le-Gal) Community Vision award. Ms. Neilson is the former Litigation Director at the HIV Law Project in New York and a former tenant organizer. E-mail vneilson@imeqactionfund.org
Steve Ralls
Director of Communications
Steve joined the organization following his work with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, where he placed hundreds of media stories on LGBT issues, including military law, marriage equality, transgender civil rights and more. Steve has been widely quoted in the press, including in the Associated Press, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and virtually ever major daily newspaper in the country. He has penned op-eds appearing in dozens of newspapers across the country and worked with The Washington Post on more than a dozen editorials dealing with LGBT military issues. Steve has coordinated coverage of federal, state, and local issues affecting the LGBT community, including an award-winning 60 Minutes report on gay troops serving in the war zone. He is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post, The Bilierico Project, and Ambiente Magazine. E-mail sralls@imeqactionfund.org
Tara Sadooghi
Executive & Development Assistant
Tara works in the New York office as the assistant to the Executive Director, liaison to the Board of Directors, and manages the interns in the development department as well as all gifts made to Immigration Equality and Immigration Equality Action Fund. Tara has an Iranian background and was raised in Massachusetts. She received her BA in Political Science at UMass Boston and MA at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, in Near and Middle Eastern Studies. In London, Tara worked for the Kurdish Human Rights Project, the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics and the Centre for Gender Studies at SOAS. Prior to Immigration Equality, Tara worked as an acting Farsi Interpreter at the asylum-based organizations, Medical Justice and Soundmix. E-mail tsadooghi@immigrationequality.org
Rachel B. Tiven
Executive Director
Under Rachel's leadership, our affiliate organization Immigration Equality has tripled in size, quadrupled client services, and opened the Action Fund in Washington, DC. Rachel received her law degree from Columbia Law School and her bachelor's degree from Harvard University. She has represented immigrant clients at the Legal Aid Society of New York, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Barbara S. Jones in the Southern District of New York. Before becoming an attorney, Rachel was a reporter and television producer for Bloomberg Business News, and a member of Lambda Legal's media team. E-mail rtiven@imeqactionfund.org
Ariel Travis
Binational Couples Paralegal
Ariel is based in Washington DC and assists the legal team in its work advocating on behalf of & representing binational couples. Ariel recently returned to the States from Turkey, where she spent two and a half years advocating on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. In Istanbul, Ariel served as a legal adviser and case coordinator for the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM), and represented LGBTI asylum seekers throughout UNHCR’s refugee status determination proceedings, in addition to conducting research and writing. Prior to joining ORAM, Ariel interned with its partner organization, Helsinki Citizens' Assembly - Refugee Support Program. She holds a Bachelor’s in Anthropology from Rice University in Texas, and completed some graduate coursework at Boğaziçi University in the fields of Human Rights Law and Migration thanks to a Wagoner Foreign Study Scholarship. Ariel speaks Spanish, Turkish and conversational Farsi. Email: atravis@imeqactionfund.org
Constance (Connie) Utada
Policy Counsel
Connie works with the policy team to lobby Capitol Hill and key stakeholders on pro-LGBT immigration legislation. She plays a major role in campaigning for the Uniting American Families Act (S. 424/H.R. 1024) and the Reuniting Families Act (H.R. 2079). Connie received her law degree from Northeastern University and is an alumna of Smith College, with a bachelors degree in American Studies. After law school, she worked as a Public Defender in Massachusetts, representing indigent clients. She also has previous experience working with the Refugee Protection Program at Human Rights First. E-mail cutada@immigrationequality.org