Krish O’Mara Vignarajah
2025 Commencement Speaker
The 2025 undergraduate Commencement address was delivered by Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, the largest faith-based national nonprofit exclusively dedicated to supporting immigrants and refugees in the United States. Over the course of 85+ years, Global Refuge has helped more than 800,000 people rebuild their lives in the United States.
Vignarajah previously served in the Obama White House as a policy director for First Lady Michelle Obama and at the State Department as a senior advisor under secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.
A graduate of Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Vignarajah attended Yale University, where she earned a master’s degree in political science and a B.S. in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Vignarajah was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, earning an M.Phil. in international relations before returning to Yale Law School, where she served on the Yale Law Journal.
Vignarajah has been recognized as one of The Daily Record’s “Top 100 Women” and “Most Admired CEOs,” The Hill’s “Changemakers,” World Trade Center Institute’s “International Business Leaders,” and one of The Baltimore Sun’s “Women to Watch.”