James N Purcell

James N. Purcell, Jr, directed the International Organization for Migration in Geneva from 1988-1998, taking the organization through a dynamic period of internal growth during a time of wars and other international crises around the world. He was appointed as Director of the Refugee Bureau (now Population, Refugees, and Migration) in the U. S. Department of State, 1982. Mr. Purcell led modern U. S. refugee and migration policy, management, and programs from the Indochinese refugee crises, 1978, forward, and other major international refugee and humanitarian crises. Mr. Purcell was born in Nashville, TN in 1938. He grew up in TN and FL, graduated from Furman University and was awarded a Masters in Public Affairs (MPA) degree from Maxwell School, Syracuse University. His home is in Columbia, MD, from where he writes and serves on various humanitarian boards.