21st Century Solutions: How the Federal Government is Working to Modernize Workplace Immigration
To compete on a global level, employers rely on global talent to solve many of their talent needs. Hear from the Senior Advisor to the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on how the Administration is planning to modernize its workplace immigration processes and from the head of visa services from the State Department on how they are working to speed up visa approvals and clear visa application backlogs.
Doug Rand
Doug Rand began serving as Senior Advisor to the Director of USCIS on Aug. 16, 2021.
Previously, he served as a Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), directing the Technology and Innovation Initiative that focuses on the intersection of immigration policy and artificial intelligence (AI) in advancing the nation’s national security and economic growth.
Rand served in the Executive Office of the President between 2010-2017 as Assistant Director for Entrepreneurship in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, with a portfolio spanning inclusive high-growth entrepreneurship, access to capital, clean energy innovation, commercialization of federally funded research, and high-skill immigration. More recently, he advised the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.
As an entrepreneur, Rand was the co-founder and president of Boundless, and the co-founder and CEO of Playscripts, Inc.
He is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management, and received Master’s and undergraduate degrees from Harvard, where he studied evolutionary biology.
Neal Vermillion
Neal Vermillion is the Visa Office’s Director of Field Operations in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. He served previously as a Regional Consular Officer based in Frankfurt, Germany providing coaching and guidance to consular sections in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Prior to that, Neal worked at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, first as a senior manager in the nonimmigrant visa unit and then as the Special Assistant to the Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs. Neal also served overseas in Perth, Antananarivo, and Sofia. Neal graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University with an undergraduate degree in political science and history. He received a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison where his studies focused on the history of U.S. foreign policy.