Maria Jesus Herrera

• Head of Mission
• International Organization for Migration (IOM), Spain

For 20 years Maria Jesús Herrera has held responsibilities related to migration, the social sector, humanitarian assistance, and development cooperation. She is currently Head of Office of the International Organization for Migration in Spain, a position she has held since 2010.
She holds a law degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. She has completed a postgraduate course at the School of Legal Practice in Cordoba, a postgraduate course in foreign trade (ICADE Madrid), a course in management and administration of NGOs (ESADE Madrid), and a UN (OCHA) Civil – Military Coordination course in Barcelona.
Following an international career, she has practiced law in the private sector in Brussels and worked at the Permanent Representation to the European Union as assistant to the diplomatic advisor for Latin America. From 2003 to 2010, she held various responsibilities in the social sector as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Yehudi Mehunin Foundation and as General Coordinator of the Movement for Peace (MPDL). In 2010 she began working as Head of Office at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) coordinating migration management programs, facing the main migration challenges of the last decade, and contributing to strengthening the political dialogue with all governmental actors at different levels, state, autonomous and local, and civil society, through inclusive and participatory processes that allow a safe, orderly and regular migration.