Samuel Kliger is a refusenik and scholar who immigrated to the United States from Moscow in 1990 after spending many years denied permission to emigrate. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the USSR Academy of Sciences (Institute of Sociology) and has published more than 50 scholarly works in English and Russian on topics related to Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants. His career includes serving as a staff member at the New York Association for New Americans (NYANA) from 1992-2003, where he assisted thousands of Soviet refugees in adjusting to life in the U.S.; founding and presiding over the Research Institute for New Americans (RINA), a research organization focused on the Russian-speaking community in the U.S., where he served as principal investigator on community surveys; and acting as Director of Russian and Eurasian Affairs at the American Jewish Committee (AJC) from 2003 to 2025, leading public diplomacy and political outreach to Former Soviet Union countries, liaising with Russian-speaking communities globally, organizing diplomatic missions, and developing leadership and integration programs for Russian Jews in the U.S.