Lisa Thakkar is the Project Coordinator for the New Americans Policy Project at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. In her current work on the Executive Order project, she partners with the Illinois Governor’s Office to develop comprehensive and strategic recommendations around immigrant integration in Illinois and is working to have similar strategies replicated around the country. Prior to her work at the Coalition, Lisa earned a Masters degree in Social Work from Boston University and a degree in law from Loyola University Chicago. As a social worker, she worked as a foster care case worker in Chicago and as a victim-witness advocate in Boston. After law school, Lisa spent two years as an appellate attorney for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Lisa is the child of immigrants from Kerala, India and grew up in the Chicago area.