Galen grew up in Twisp, Washington, a small town in the Cascades Mountains. He graduated in 2014 from Brown University with a bachelor´s degree in international relations. His interest in migration led him to an AmeriCorps VISTA position in Tucson, Arizona, where he coordinated a shelter program for migrant families with Catholic Community Services. He spent the following year volunteering, consulting, and working with organizations that provide asylum seeker housing in Texas, Maryland, and Washington state. In 2016, Galen joined the PeaceCorps youth in development program in Guatemala. He extended his PeaceCorps service into 2019 in order to work with Nexos Locales, a USAID-contracted democracy and governance program in western Guatemala. This past summer, he interned with the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth. Galen is interested in technology as an impulse for rural development, and how to achieve effective collaboration between nonprofits and government programs. He is also an avid bass player of many genres.