Alexa Schmidt is the Interim Director of Mercy Corps’ Technology for Impact program, which aims to develop better processes and experiment with innovative tools to deliver aid faster, more efficiently, and to more people. Three years into the program, it has reached nearly 7 million people with information dissemination activities, WiFi access, and improved digital cash and voucher systems.

She previously worked with Mercy Corps, covering Syria, Yemen, and the European refugee crisis. Prior to her international development career, Alexa worked in refugee resettlement in the US, where she helped school districts and local resettlement agencies integrate refugee youth into the US school system.

Alexa has lived and worked in Bangladesh on a Fulbright Scholarship and completed her MSc in Comparative and International Education at the University of Oxford with a focus on access to higher education for refugees.