Kari Jorgensen Diener is an experienced humanitarian response and development leader with extensive regional expertise in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Currently, Kari serves as the Executive Director for the Refugee Self Reliance Initiative, a multi-stakeholder collaboration that promotes opportunities for refugees around the world to become self-reliant via the promotion of effective policies, research and practice. Prior to joining RSRI, Kari was Country Director (2019-2022) and Director of Programs (2017-2019) for Mercy Corps in Jordan overseeing a $90 million portfolio of development and humanitarian assistance. She previously was Mercy Corps' Deputy Director for Policy and Advocacy in Washington, DC, focusing on humanitarian emergencies, post-conflict assistance and aid reform. Prior to joining Mercy Corps, Kari worked with CHF International (now Global Communities), where she held a number of positions including senior field management roles in the Palestinian Territories and in Southern Sudan. Previously, Kari was a researcher focusing on migration and refugee policy at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University and a Fulbright Research Fellow in Turkey. Kari received a BA in Political Science from Bates College in Lewiston Maine, and an MA in Arab Studies with a Certificate in Refugee and Humanitarian Emergencies from Georgetown University. Kari has published articles in Refugee Survey Quarterly, The Christian Science Monitor and The Hill, among other publications. She is a contributing author to The Uprooted, Improving Responses to Forced Migration. She has advanced language proficiency in Arabic (modern standard and colloquial Levantine) and Turkish.