Bangkok, 27 April 2018 – The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is pleased to announce that Mr Louie Bacomo has been appointed as the new Regional Director of Asia Pacific. Mr Bacomo will assume the role on the 1st of June 2018, following the end of the term of Fr Bambang A. Sipayung SJ as Regional Director. 

Mr Bacomo first started working with JRS in Cambodia in 1997 where he stayed for two years. In 2010 Mr Bacomo returned to JRS as the Regional Programmes Officer for the Asia Pacific region, during which he helped establish programmes in the southern Philippines and Myanmar. Since February 2016, he has been working as the International Programmes Coordinator at JRS’s International Office in Rome, Italy.

Mr Bacomo has an MA in Sustainable International Development (SID) from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in the U.S., and a BA in Sociology from Xavier University in the Philippines. 

He has worked in Cambodia, Thailand, Belize, and the U.S. with government agencies, NGOs, grassroots communities, and universities addressing issues related to environmental protection, education, and forcible displacement. 

Announcing the appointment, JRS International Director, Fr Thomas H Smolich SJ, says, “Louie Bacomo brings extensive experience from JRS and other INGOs to this position. We are grateful for his taking on this important role, and I know the staff, partners, and beneficiaries of JRS Asia Pacific look forward to his return.”