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Denise R. MuroExecutive Director
Denise has been working with MAP Network since 2017 and became Executive Director in 2018. Denise has several years of experience working, advocating, and conducting research with asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants in Colorado, Wyoming, Massachusetts, and Germany. As Executive Director of MAP Network, she hopes to contribute to refugee and immigrant advancement and community-building in the Boston area. She is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance in the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
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Courtney Maurer
Director of Research and Organizational Development
Courtney joined MAP Network as a Research Fellow in 2019 and transitioned to the leadership team in 2020. She received her M.A. in Global Studies with a concentration in Immigration Studies from Brandeis University. Courtney’s research focuses on immigrant and refugee integration in the United States and how various push and pull factors of immigration impact an individual’s ability to reach self-sufficiency. Courtney continuously advocates for immigrant communities in the greater Boston area. In addition to her current work within MAP Network, she was a communications intern for The Right to Immigration Institute and an ESL teacher at Watch CDC. As the Director of Research and Organizational Development for MAP Network, Courtney is eager to advocate for refugee and immigrant advancement by providing current and factual data that highlights inequalities among immigrant and refugee populations while providing more effective policy approaches.
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Maia MatermanDirector of Technology and Community Engagement
Maia is a Computer Science and Human Centered Design student at Olin College. She is passionate about exploring the intersection of technology and the public good, and focuses primarily on human rights. Maia joined MAP Network through her management of the Migrant Service Map as a volunteer at Code For Boston. She is interested in the ways in which technology can improve the lives of people with a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and abilities. Maia is excited to work with refugees, immigrants, and service providers to build technology which empowers them and makes their lives better.
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Yvanna Hopkins
Director of CommunicationsYvanna earned her bachelor’s degree in Communications & Media with a minor in Political Science from Erasmus University Rotterdam. She worked for the U.S. Embassy in The Hague, served on the board of the Amnesty International Student group in Rotterdam, and was a member of The West Wing, a think tank for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During her studies and extracurricular activities, she developed an interest in refugee and immigration-related issues. For her thesis, she researched the usage of Twitter amongst the revolutionaries in the Syrian civil war. Yvanna has always had an interest in learning languages, and worked as a language tutor for nearly 4 years, teaching Dutch, English, French and German to high school students. After moving to the U.S. in 2020, her experience with immigration fueled her already strong passion for helping others who are also going through this process.
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Aliya Rife
Interim Director of Communications
Aliya Rife is a senior at Boston University majoring in International Relations with a concentration in the Middle East and a minor in Arabic. In addition to her schoolwork, she is a chocolate tour guide in Cambridge and a Big Sister mentor in the Big Brother Big Sister organization. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, baking, and exploring Boston with her friends. Aliya is very excited to move from a capacity building intern to the interim communications director role. She is looking forward to gaining valuable experience working at a nonprofit organization. She hopes to learn more about refugee and immigration policies in order to become a better advocate.
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Johanna Norshus Tvedt
Before co-founding MAP Network (formerly Refugees Welcome!), Johanna Norshus Tvedt received her M.A. in International Studies from the University of San Francisco, where her thesis explored gender in international refugee law. She currently works at Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she is researching higher education in the U.S.
Her work promoting refugee and immigrant rights spans several years and multiple continents. In Norway, she worked for equal rights for minorities at the MiRA Resource Centre for Black, Immigrant and Refugee Women, where she managed an educational program, provided policy analysis, and co-authored a handbook on anti-discrimination work within the Child Welfare Services. She has also worked with immigrant and refugee rights organizations on the East- and West Coast of the U.S., and currently serves as a member of North Korea Refugee Aid’s advisory board. |
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Kenneth Baiza Mukonyezi
Kenneth Baiza Mukonyezi has over 10 years of experience in government and NGOs focused on security, peace building, justice, and development work. Kenneth’s experience growing up in Uganda exposed him to tragedies resulting from conflicts, wars, and bad governance, which affected the lives of people and often caused displacements in his native country and region. He was a soldier under the Ugandan military until 2014, which enabled him to travel across the country and witness the peoples’ struggles. This shaped his pursuit for peace studies and developed deep passion to work within peace building, justice, and development professions.
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Darren Kew
Darren Kew is an Associate Professor in the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security, and Global Governance in the McCormack Graduate School. He is the Executive Director of the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development. He studies the connection between democratic institution building in Africa and the development of political cultures that support democracy, particularly in terms of the role of civil society groups in this development. Kew has worked with the Council on Foreign Relations’ Center for Preventive Action to provide analysis and blueprints for preventing conflicts in several areas around the world, including Nigeria, Central Africa, and Kosovo. He has also been a consultant to the United Nations, USAID, the US State Department, and to a number of NGOs, including the Carter Center in a 1999 effort by former President Carter to mediate the Niger Delta conflicts. His work on how conflict resolution methods promote democratization of national political cultures is one of the first of its kind linking these important fields.
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