(The Center Square)— A former policy director for First Lady Michelle Obama was paid nearly $700,000in total compensation last year despite revenue to the taxpayer-funded refugee resettlement organization plummeting by nearly $130 million, an investigation by The Center Square found.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah isthe CEO of Baltimore-based Global Refuge, a faith-based nonprofit which received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants from the State and Health and Human Services departments since 2021.
In 2025, shemade$686,000, a 2% drop fromthe$699,000 she made theyear before.That compares toa 44% drop inthe nonprofit’srevenue during the same time, from $304.3 million in 2024 to $170.4 million last year.
O’Mara Vignarajah received a $172,963 bonus in 2024, in addition to a base salary of $526,536. She received no bonus in 2025, but her base salary rose to $686,000, according to thenonprofit’stax filings.
“That’s troubling,” Steven Balsam, professor of accounting at the FoxBusiness School at Temple University,told The Center Square after the wire service detailed information in the nonprofits tax filings. “A cynic could say the bonus was transferred to compensation.Yougottawonder how the board of trustees justified the (salary) increase.”
Timothy Young, Global Refuge's director of public relations, did not return two voicemails and an email for comment, while Chief Communications Officer Erin Taylor did not return a voicemail.
CEO pay outpaces revenue
Formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services,Global Refugeworks primarily withdisplaced residents ofAfghanistan, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Syria in the United States. Last year,the nonprofit reported it resettled 7,800 refugees, includingAfghans eligible for special immigrant status because of their work supporting U.S. forces, andunaccompanied minors. In addition, itprovidedcommunity-based management to 8,860 children and families.
O’Mara Vignarajah, 47, is a lawyer who served as senior advisor at the State Department under Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. In 2015, she was namedpolicy director for First Lady Michelle Obama.Shewas hired by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, noting that when she was an infant, her family fled Sri Lanka on the brink of civil war.
According to O'Mara Vignarajah's biography, at the State Department "she coordinated development and implementation of multiple programs including those concerning refugees and migration, engagement with religious communities, the legal dimensions of U.S. foreign policy, and regional issues relating to Africa and the Middle East."
The nonprofit’s 17-member board includes Lutheran, nonprofit and business leaders. The board is responsible for setting the CEO’s compensation, using an outside consulting firm and compensation surveys to inform its decisions. Board member Lee Williams and former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Pepito couldn't be reached for comment, while former Chief Financial Officer Hannibal L. Brumskine II did not return two emails seeking an interview.
The nonprofit’s revenues stayed at $63 million inher first two years on the job, in 2019 and 2020, but they shot upafter the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021.
Global Refuge’s revenueincreased to $114.6 million in 2021and to$232.8 millionthe following year. Mostof the funding was the result of federal grants from the State Department and Health and Human Services.It received $154.8 million in federal fundinglast year.
Thatrepresenteda decrease fromnearly$300 millionthat Global Refuge received in 2024. On September 25, the White House noted thatPresident Trumpasked Congress to cancel $2.1 million appropriated to the nonprofit.
“CEO Krish Vignarajah was one of the most prominent advocates for illegal aliens crossing the southern border, appearing frequently on MSNBC,” according to an administration statement.
The proposed cancellation came as Global Refuge’s revenue remainedsubstantially higherthan it was before the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Between 2019 and last year, revenue increased 170%, while O’Mara Vignarajah’s total compensation rose 196%, from $232,000 to $686,000.
Global Refuge reported $154.4 million in government grants in 2025. That accounted for about 91% of its $170.4 million in total revenue.
Nonprofit CEO pay by comparison.
The heads of two refugee nonprofitsmore modest increasereported compensation despite increasing their revenue.
HIASInc. held the total compensation of itsPresidentand CEO,Mark Hetfield, at $369,000 last year, an uptick of 2.7% from 2019.The nonprofit’s revenue surged 93%,to $107 millionlast yearfrom $55.6million in 2019.
TheInternational Rescue Committeeboosted the pay of itsDirector, CEO, and President,David Miliband, by14%, to $1.1 million last yearfrom $967,000in 2019. Its revenuerose to$1.3 billion last year from $729.5 million, a 78% spike.
Balsam saidhe was not surprised by O’Mara Vignarajah’s total compensation last year.
“When you look at CEOs of nonprofits,that’snot unusual," he said. "Quite honestly,there’sa lot who make an excess of $1 million a year."
Nor, Balsam said, was O’Mara Vignarajah’s previous lack of experience as a nonprofit head.
“For most CEOs of nonprofits and for-profit companies,that’stheir first job as a leader," he added. "Maybe shegot federal grants because of her connections, which arereally important, especially in the Biden administration.”
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