Announcing NSC's Next Executive Director
Claudia Peña Porretti will succeed Margaret O'Sullivan as Executive Director of Nationalities Service Center on July 7, 2025.
The youngest of seven children born to a Cuban mother and a bi-racial father from the American south, Claudia was born in the United States. However, when her mother came to America, she brought three of Claudia's older siblings who had been born in Jamaica. Growing up in a mixed-status family, Claudia regularly experienced the differences between resources available to her and her three American-born siblings and those available to her Jamaican-born siblings.
"NSC's motto resonated with me from the beginning. I've been standing with immigrants – my mother and three brothers – since I was born," she says.
Throughout her childhood, Claudia watched her mother serve as a guide to arriving immigrants in their community. She believed deeply in the golden rule and inspired Claudia to seek a career of service in pursuit of a more just world.
A trained lawyer, Claudia most recently served as CEO at Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay. In her seven-year tenure as the organization's leader, Claudia brought increased financial stability while navigating a global pandemic. This included strategic programmatic prioritization and a series of real estate transactions to ensure organizational stability over the long term.
While leaving the Girl Scouts is bittersweet, Claudia says, "my friends and family helped me realize that working with immigrants is a calling for me. It is the topic to which I always return during conversations. I could not deny that calling any longer."
In the coming months, you will have opportunities to get to know Claudia as she enters our community. We will ensure that you have multiple chances to learn of Claudia's experience and her leadership philosophy as she joins the NSC team. When the opportunity arises, we hope you will join us in welcoming Claudia and sharing with her why you love NSC and why you stand with immigrants.
Margaret O'Sullivan will remain at NSC as a senior advisor for four months as Claudia begins her tenure as the organization's leader. We are immensely grateful for Margaret's service over the last eleven years, and we are thankful that she will share her wisdom with Claudia during this period of transition.
Despite the challenging and constantly evolving difficulties facing immigrants and those that serve them, Claudia is hopeful. She continues, "I've seen hopelessness, and I've seen despair. I've also seen people overcome those things. We're all witnesses to the recent barrage of archaic immigration laws and arbitrary immigration policies. But I'm also seeing people come together to write the next chapter of our country's history. That gives me hope."
While Claudia is new to NSC, she joins an organization that has stood with immigrants for more than a century. We are thankful she has chosen to stand with us.
