Elle Fersan has recently joined USC as the Director of the Immigrants and Global Migration Initiative. She works on women, LGBT and immigrant rights in the US, Lebanon, the Middle East and North Africa. Elle is herself a Lebanese-American and studies the histories of migration from the Middle East to the Americas.

Professionally, she has a career of 15 years in international development, advocacy, campaigning and fundraising working with the US Department of State, the United Nations and Local Governments. Among her accomplishments, she has investigated and uncovered a sex trafficking network of LGBT Syrian refugees, passed the first public non-smoking ban in a city in the Middle East and North Africa region and accelerated in inclusion of women political participation through devising and funding of programs both at the local and national levels in Lebanon.

She is founder and CEO of Global Nexus Solutions, a company that provides expert advice on fundraising and international development to NGOs and universities.

She is a Global Women Leader Eisenhower Fellow (2015), One of UNESCO’s Top 40 Lebanese Women from the Grassroots and laureate of numerous US Department of State honor awards for her contributions to civil society development. She is a Truman Security Fellow, 2020.

Follow her on all social media platforms at: @ellefersan and @USCigmi