OUR PEOPLE

MEET OUR STAFF

Executive Director

(She/her/ella)

María José Espinosa Carrillo is an economist and foreign policy expert bringing over fifteen years of expertise in policy research, advocacy, and international relations. At CEDA, María José has effectively shaped advocacy, program, and communication strategies that drive transformative action in U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean on issues such as U.S.-Cuba relations, regional migration, climate, LGBTQ+ and women rights, and protections for refugees and migrants. She has played a key role in bringing voices from the region into the US policy debate and has crafted and led over twenty high-level U.S. delegations on fact-finding trips to Central and South America, Cuba, and the U.S.-Mexico border and the Darién to educate US policymakers and other key stakeholders.

Earlier in her trajectory, María José delved into the economic, political, and social facets of U.S. relations with Asia and Oceania and began her professional journey teaching at the University of Havana's School of Economics.

María José is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow with the Center for International Policy (CIP). She was recognized by New America as one of the 2020 Latino National Security & Foreign Policy Next Generation Leaders. She holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Economics and Tourism from the Universitat de les Illes Balears in Spain; an M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Havana in Cuba; and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Havana.

MARÍA JOSÉ ESPINOSA

ISABEL ALBEE

External Affairs Manager

(She/her/ella)

Isabel Albee is an event, media, and travel producer with almost a decade of experience working in and around Cuba. She has worked to bring dozens of American delegations to Cuba and Cuban delegations to the United States to foster engagement and build cultural bridges between the two countries. She holds a B.A. in International Development from McGill University, an M.A. in American Studies from Columbia University, and a Certificate of Documentary Storytelling from the Maine College of Art & Design.

DIANA GALEANO-BAZZEGHIN

Operations Assistant

Diana Galeano-Bazzeghin is a former educator turned operations professional who brings over five years of finance and operational expertise to her role as Operations Assistant. She manages the organization's finances, human resources, and internal operations, with an emphasis on streamlining organizational processes and systems. Her Colombian heritage fuels her passion for CEDA's mission of advancing regional dialogue in the Americas. She holds a B.M.E. from Florida State University.

Strategy and Advocacy Director

(She/her/ella)

Francisca Vigaud-Walsh is an expert on the protection of refugees and other displaced people, with over twenty years of experience in humanitarian action. As an emergency responder, she has deployed to lead protection programs at the onset of conflict and natural disasters in 30+ countries across four continents. As a policy advisor, she has been influential in the development of U.S., UN, EU policy to protect the forcibly displaced. Francisca has carried out this work at several of the world’s leading humanitarian assistance agencies, including Catholic Relief Services, International Rescue Committee, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and at Refugees International, where she led their Women and Girls Program. Francisca most recently served in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration. She began her career conducting refugee status determinations and resettlement eligibility verification throughout Africa.

Francisca is not new to CEDA or work in the Americas. She was a long-time CEDA consultant, developing and advocating for protection policy in support of people on the move in the Americas. She has also worked on humanitarian assistance policy in Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, and El Salvador, and she co-authored UNICEF’s Gender Based Guidelines for Adolescent Girls on the Move in Latin America and the Caribbean. Francisca also served as an expert on the OAS Working Group for Venezuelan refugees and migrants in 2018 and 2019.

Francisca holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and is also certified by the Institute for International Criminal Investigations in atrocity crimes investigations, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

NICK AIMÉ

Program Assistant

(he, him, él)

Nicholas Aimé has performed research on issues of forced migration and displacement. As a Research Assistant at Wake Forest University, he conducted and presented research on the implications of the 2004 UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti. Working with the International Refugee Assistance Project, he conducted outreach with elected officials nationwide to support refugee admissions and wrote on how U.S. deportation flights to Haiti in 2024 violate international law. He holds a B.A. in Politics and International Affairs from Wake Forest University.

FRANCISCA VIGAUD-WALSH

  • President of the Board

    Executive Director

    National Security Action

  • Treasurer of the Board

    Executive Director

    Fund for Constitutional Government

  • Secretary of the Board

  • Director of Regional Migration

    Emerson Collective

  • Formerly with Columbia University and the Institutional Investor Network on Climate Risk

  • International Trade Partner

    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld LLP

  • Policy Director

    The Solidarity Center

  • Former Executive Director of the Government Accountability Project and Emeritus Sr. Specialist at the OAS

  • Founder and Executive Director

    Cuba Educational Travel

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ADVISORY BOARD

  • School of International Service, American University

  • Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP