David Milibandis the President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. He oversees the agency’s operations in over 40 crisis-effect countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs throughout Europe and the Americas. The IRC’s mission is to help the world’s most vulnerable people, whose lives and livelihoods have been shattered by conflict and disaster, including the climate crisis, to survive, recover, and regain control of their futures. In 2023, the IRC served more than 34.5M people in countries affected by crisis.
Prior to joining IRC, David had a distinguished political career in the United Kingdom. From 2007 to 2010, he served as the 74th Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, representing the United Kingdom throughout the world. His accomplishments have earned him a reputation, in former President Bill Clinton's words, as "one of the ablest, most creative public servants of our time.” In 2016 David was named one of the World’s Greatest Leaders by Fortune Magazine and in 2018 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2016, he was one of the Guest Readers in the Grammy Award-winning recording of Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom by the Ted Nash Big Band.
David is also the author of the book, Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of Our Time. As the son of refugees, David brings a personal commitment to the IRC's work and to the premise of the book: that we can rescue the dignity and hopes of refugees and displaced people, and if we help them, in the process we will rescue our own values.