Mitzi Schroeder has worked in refugee programs and policy since 1979. In her most recent capacity as Director for Policy at Jesuit Refugee Service/USA she was responsible for policy development and advocacy in support of the refugees served by JRS programs in countries around the world, including Cambodia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Nepal, Ethopia, Iraq and Syria. She also is recognized as an expert on urban refugee policy, an area in which JRS has been a leading implementing agency.

From 1984 to 2003 she worked for the International Catholic Migration Commission as director of their U.S. offices in Washington, D.C., where she supervised ICMC's U.S. funded projects including the Orderly Departure Program Thailand and Vietnam, and US resettlement processing offices in Turkey, Sudan, the Philippines Pakistan, Croatia and The Refugee Data Center in New York City.

Throughout her career, she also worked closely with UNHCR, and was responsible for developing the urban refugee strategy recommendations of the High Commissioner's Structured Dialogue with NGOs and subsequently carried this work forward as NGO co-chair of the UNHCR-NGO Task Force on Urban Refugees. On several occasions, Mitzi served as a member of the US government delegation to the UNHCR Executive Committee Meetings in Geneva, representing the US NGO community.

Mitzi received her undergraduate degree in political science from Williams College, and Master's and Master in Law and Diplomacy degrees from the Fletcher School.