PRESS RELEASE: Tent Partnership for Refugees Launches New U.S. Advisory Council and Expands Board of Directors

New York, February 28 – The Tent Partnership for Refugees (Tent) – a global network of more than 300 major companies committed to hiring, training, and mentoring refugees – is pleased to announce its new U.S. Advisory Council. A distinguished and diverse group of business and civic leaders, they are united by a shared commitment to support Tent’s mission of mobilizing businesses in the U.S. to connect refugees to work.

Over the last 18 months, the United States has welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees and forcibly displaced people – including from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela – building on the country’s longstanding bipartisan tradition of welcoming refugees, with more than 3 million arriving and integrating since 1980.

As this marks a new era of opportunity for businesses to take action on this issue and help refugees to economically integrate into their communities, Tent’s agenda for 2023 and beyond is more ambitious and urgent than ever. The new U.S. Advisory Council will provide critical insight and support to drive Tent’s work forward, and will help build on the momentum established at Tent’s U.S. Business Summit on Refugees last fall, during which 45 companies – including Amazon, Hilton, and Pfizer – committed to hire more than 20,000 refugees over three years.

Tent’s U.S. Advisory Council members are:

• J. Ofori Agboka, Vice President of People eXperience and Technology (PXT) for Global Operations, Amazon
• Laszlo Bock, founder and Chairman, Humu and former Chief Human Resources Officer, Google/Alphabet
• Laura Fuentes, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, Hilton
• Joe Gebbia, Co-founder, Airbnb & Samara and Chairman, Airbnb.org
• Carlos Gutierrez, Executive Chairman, Empath and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce
• General Michael Hayden, former Director, Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency
• Betty Liu, former Executive Vice Chairman, NYSE Group
• Anne Mulcahy, former Chair and CEO, Xerox
• Payal Sahni, Chief People Experience Officer & Executive Vice President, Pfizer

“We couldn’t be prouder of the all-star cast of advisors we’ve recruited to serve on our U.S. advisory council, with deep experience in government, business, and human resources,” said Gideon Maltz, CEO of Tent. “Their expertise and insights will be invaluable as Tent continues to rapidly expand our coalition of companies, enabling more companies to hire, train, and mentor more refugees – all with the singular focus of helping refugees rebuild their lives and find meaningful employment in their new communities.”

As former refugees themselves, Bock, Gutierrez, and Sahni are shining examples of the rich contributions refugees can make to their new communities and workplaces when given the chance, and they are uniquely positioned to serve in their roles as advisors for Tent.

In addition, Dr. Rohini Anand, founder and CEO, Rohini Anand LLC and former SVP Corporate Responsibility and Global Chief Diversity Officer for Sodexo, and Wendy Woods, Vice Chair Social Impact, Climate & Sustainability, Boston Consulting Group – who both served on Tent’s Global Advisory Council from 2019 to 2022 – have been appointed to Tent’s Board of Directors and will serve alongside Orin Snyder, Senior Litigation Partner Executive Committee Member at Gibson Dunn and Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of Chobani, founder of Tent, and President of Tent’s Board of Directors.

“As we look to take Tent and our impact on refugees’ lives to the next level, I am so grateful to have this incredible group of leaders, both on the advisory council and board of directors, to help forge that path,” said Ulukaya. 

For more information about Tent’s U.S. Advisory Council click here, and for more information about Tent’s Board of Directors click here.

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For Media Enquiries:
Tent Partnership for Refugees – [email protected]

About the Tent Partnership for Refugees
With more and more refugees displaced for longer periods of time, businesses have a critical role to play in helping refugees integrate economically in their new host communities. The Tent Partnership for Refugees mobilizes the global business community to improve the lives and livelihoods of more than 36 million refugees who have been forcibly displaced from their home countries. Founded by Chobani’s founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya in 2016, we are a network of over 300 major companies committed to including refugees. Tent believes that companies can most sustainably support refugees by leveraging their core business operations and hiring, training, and mentoring refugees. Visit www.tent.org and contact [email protected] to learn more.