International Rescue Committee (IRC)

George Rupp. George Rupp has been president of the International Rescue Committee since July 2002. As the IRC’s chief executive officer, Dr. Rupp oversees the agency’s relief and development operations in over 40 countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs throughout the United States. In addition, he leads the IRC’s advocacy efforts in Washington, Geneva, Brussels and other capitals on behalf… See full bio.

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Story: The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. For over 75 years, we have offered lifesaving care and life-changing help to refugees forced to flee from conflict or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and in 22 U.S. cities, the IRC leads the way from harm to home.

In 2010, the IRC restored hope and opportunity for millions of conflict-affected people around the world. Here’s a look at some of our recent achievements:

• We gave over 4.4 million people access to clean drinking water and sanitation.
• Our doctors, nurses and community health workers served nearly 14.5 million people with primary and reproductive health care. We vaccinated 210,000 children for measles and other childhood diseases and our IRC-supported clinics and hospitals helped 152,000 women deliver healthy babies.
• We trained over 6,000 educators and supported 2,300 schools attended by 373,000 children, over half of them girls. We provided and supported skills training for over 11,500 young people while nearly 12,000 children participated in IRC sponsored child-friendly spaces and children’s clubs.
• We counseled and cared for nearly 12,000 survivors of sexual violence and educated and mobilized over 2.5 million men, women and children to lead prevention efforts in their communities.
• We assisted over 17,200 refugees who departed from camps and cities in East Asia to enter the United States and build new lives.
• In the United States, we helped resettle some 9,600 newly arrived refugees and provided services to over 24,500 refugees, asylees, and victims of human trafficking.

Evidence of Impact Summary:

The International Rescue Committee does high quality, evidence-based work in geographic areas where others will not. They have a track record of strong programming, particularly with with schools in refugee and internally displaced persons (IDP) settings.
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Organization Strengths Summary:

Experts speak highly of IRC's comprehensive approach to emergency response, which includes a broad scope of programs, covers a wide geographical area, and delves into policy and resettlement work. They also remarked on IRC's strong leadership, good advocacy, technical capacity, and excellent understanding of the on-the-ground situation.
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Areas for Improvement Summary:

Experts believe that the International Rescue Committee needs to become more comfortable with its recent explosion in size, perhaps improving integration among its programs, and/or reevaluating their emergency response capabilities. They could also focus more on their programs dealing with the transition to development.
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George Rupp has been president of the International Rescue Committee since July 2002. As the IRC’s chief executive officer, Dr. Rupp oversees the agency’s relief and development operations in over 40 countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs throughout the United States. In addition, he leads the IRC’s advocacy efforts in Washington, Geneva, Brussels and other capitals on behalf of the world’s most vulnerable people. He regularly visits IRC program sites worldwide. Before joining the IRC, Dr. Rupp was president of Columbia University. During his nine-year tenure, he focused on enhancing undergraduate education, on strengthening the relationship of the campus to surrounding communities and New York City as a whole, and on increasing the university’s international orientation. He also completed both a financial restructuring of the university and a $2.84 billion fundraising campaign. Prior to his time at Columbia, Dr. Rupp served as president of Rice University, where in the course of his eight-year tenure, applications for admission almost tripled, federal research support more than doubled, and the value of the Rice endowment increased by more than $500 million to $1.25 billion. Earlier, he was the John Lord O’Brian Professor of Divinity and dean of the Harvard Divinity School. Under his leadership, the curriculum of the school was revised to address more directly the pluralistic character of contemporary religious life. Born in New Jersey of immigrant parents, Dr. Rupp studied and conducted research for extended periods in Europe and Asia. He was awarded an A.B. from Princeton University in 1964, a B.D. from Yale Divinity School in 1967, and a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1972. He is the author of numerous articles and five books, including Globalization Challenged: Conviction, Conflict, Community (2006). George Rupp and his wife Nancy have two adult daughters, both anthropologists, and six grandchildren.

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