Office Director
Ellen Andrews has been the Director of the CWS Durham Office since December 2014. Ellen began working with refugees at CWS in 2009; first as an Employment Specialist, and then as the Employment Services Coordinator, managing our refugee employment programs. In her current role as office Director, Ellen manages the overall and daily operations of the Reception & Placement, Matching Grant, Preferred Communities, RAP, TAGD and Immigration Services programs at the Durham office and provides leadership and supervision to direct services staff. Ellen holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Refugee Services Coordinator
Monique Lohmeyer joined CWS as an Employment Specialist in April 2015 and moved to the PC Case Manager position in 2016. She is currently the Refugee Services Coordinator and supervises Case Management and Employment Services programs. She holds a BA in Communication Studies from UNCG. From 2013-2014 she participated in The World Race and traveled in 11 countries in 11 months. Working alongside local non-profit organizations in each country, she assisted in projects ranging from building schools to assisting in medical clinics, from visiting IDP camps in Haiti to aiding women leaving the sex industry in Thailand.  

Case Management
Soni Muragizi joined CWS as a Refugee Case Manager in July 2016. His journey in supporting refugee resettlement began in 2007 with the UNHCR as an outreach officer in Kenya, training refugees in preparation for their resettlement to other countries. He arrived to the US in 2012 and worked as an over the phone interpreter with TeleLanguage providing interpretation in English, French, Kiswahili, and Kinyarwanda. He began working with CWS in 2014 as an interpreter, joined our ranks as an AmeriCorps Employment Specialist in 2015, and transitioned in 2016 to his current case manager position.

Beryl Cherono joined CWS Durham as an AmeriCorps member in 2017. She transitioned to her current role of Refugee Case Manager in the spring of 2019. She speaks Swahili.

Employment Services
Nandini Sridhar joined CWS as an Employment Specialist in August 2017 after completing a year as an AmeriCorps ACCESS member with CWS Durham staff. Prior to working at CWS she served as an AmeriCorps member at IRC Miami. She holds a dual BA in International Studies and Spanish Language and Literature from UNC-Charlotte (’14). Nandini speaks Spanish.

Daniela Archibold started serving as the Matching Grant Specialist for the CWS Durham office beginning in February 2019.  Daniela arrived to the United States in 2011 as an international student. Since then, she has been dedicated to generating positive changes for communities in both her home country and the U.S. She holds and BA in Political Science from Shaw University and speaks Spanish.

Immigration Legal Team
Kelly Chauvin serves CWS as the Immigration Services Coordinator, and began at our site as an Immigration Counselor in September 2013. Prior to that, Kelly served with the NC Immigrant Rights Project and El Centro Hispano working in immigration law with a focus on immigrant rights and fighting racial profiling. Before working in immigration, Kelly served in the Peace Corps for 3 years in Guatemala. Kelly holds a BA in Psychology. She speaks Spanish and has lived and studied abroad in Spain and Guatemala.

Rebecca Schaeffer serves as an Immigration Counselor at our legal office. Rebecca served as an Employment Specialist for the CWS Durham office beginning in June 2010. Before joining CWS, Rebecca worked for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration in Washington, DC. Rebecca holds a BA in International Relations with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. She speaks French and Arabic, and has lived and studied abroad in England, France, Jordan, and India. In addition to working full-time for CWS, Rebecca is enrolled in the Weekend Executive MBA program at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Katherine (Cas) Cogswell serves as an Immigration Counselor at our legal office.  Prior to CWS, Cas served at Duke’s Center for Child and Family Policy as a Research Project Manager.  Cas holds a MPA from the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Policy. Before moving to Durham, Cas served seven years as a Program Officer with the Seattle Workforce Development Council, developing and implementing workforce development programs throughout King County. In addition, Cas is a certified ESL instructor and has taught at Durham Technical Community College and with the English Under the Arches program English Literacy program sponsored by the McDonald’s corporation. Cas has traveled in Central and South America, Spain, and India and speaks Spanish.

Volunteers
Sina Naseri joined CWS Durham as the Volunteer Coordinator in 2019. Prior to CWS, Sina worked as a Field Director and facilitated direct voter contact to increase turn out for over 20 elections across the country. Sina has a BA in Political Science from UNC Charlotte and he speaks Farsi.

Advocacy
Kokou Nayo usually goes by Nayo. He is a Refugee Community Organizer at CWS Durham. He did his practicum with CWS two years ago and had work on and off with CWS while continuing his studies. He holds a Bachelors in Social Work form UNCG and a Masters in Community Management and Policy Practice form UNC Chapel Hill. He worked as English teacher and as a coordinator for a HIV/AIDS orphan NGO in Togo, and enjoys teaching and working with our refugee and immigrant population. He speaks French.

Development
Sarah Jacoby Murphy serves as the Development Coordinator at CWS Durham. She began this position in 2018 after completing an internship with CWS in 2017. She holds a Masters of Divinity from Duke University.

Accounting
Clarissa Bacon  joined CWS in 2017 as the NC Accounting Assistant for both the Durham and Greensboro offices.  Her background is in non-profit accounting.  She is a long time resident of Durham and has traveled extensively. She holds a BA in Accounting with a minor in History from Transylvania University in Lexington, KY.

AMERICORPS – CWS is proud to host Americorps members through the Americorps ACCESS program.