Project HOPE Welcomes New Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Julia Soyars

Project HOPE has announced the appointment of Julia Soyars as its Vice President, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer.

Reporting to the President and CEO of Project HOPE, Ms. Soyars will join the NGO’s senior leadership team and will be responsible for its global legal and compliance strategy and operations. Ms. Soyars will help the organization in maintaining a culture of integrity and transparency across the many countries where HOPE is operating.

“Ms. Soyars brings valuable legal expertise and executive leadership skills from the international nonprofit sector to ensure that our operations around the globe are conducted within a proper legal, ethical and transparent framework.  She has devoted much of her career to strengthening organizations involved in humanitarian causes and I’m thrilled to have her on our team,” said Tom Kenyon, M.D., M.P.H., President and CEO of Project HOPE.

Ms. Soyars’ distinguished career spans over 25 years in legal affairs, including 11 years in executive leadership roles at the Grameen Foundation USA.  She has overseen complex development projects and created training tools for regional offices to ensure compliance with foreign laws.  Ms. Soyars is an experienced negotiator in transactions in international development with expertise in technical consulting, logistics and international service and supply contracts.  She has also worked as Senior Counsel at The American National Red Cross and in the private sector.

“I’m honored to join the Project HOPE team and to help achieve HOPE’s global mission of improving the health and well-being of so many in need around the world.  In a sector with increasingly complex legal and compliance requirements, I look forward to further strengthening and nurturing the expertise of HOPE’s staff around the globe,” said Ms. Soyars.

Ms. Soyars holds a JD Magna Cum Laude and a B.A. Cum Laude in Sociology from Syracuse University.  She is a founding member of the Council of Counsels and a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

About Project HOPE

Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health problems with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS Hope, the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now provides medical training and health education, and conducts humanitarian assistance programs in more than 30 countries. Visit our website projecthope.org or follow us on Twitter @projecthopeorg.