Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World has named Heather Taylor today as its new managing director. Taylor succeeds Michele Sumilas who earlier this year accepted a political appointment as the Assistant to the Administrator of the Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
“I am thrilled to appoint and welcome Heather Taylor as the new managing director of Bread for the World,” said Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World. “Having had the opportunity to work with her this past year, I have been deeply impressed with her many gifts and strengths – including her ability to implement Bread’s organizational vision into strategic success. Most of all, I know that this isn’t just merely a job but an embodiment of her faith, values, and conviction as a life-long advocate for the vulnerable in our nation and world.”
Taylor has extensive management and operations experience in nonprofit and faith-based organizations. As a trained lawyer and minister whose vocation speaks to the intersection of faith and justice, Taylor spent her career as a dedicated advocate lifting the voices of people who experience racial, gender, and economic injustice and who recently were most impacted by the global pandemic in the U.S. and abroad.
Prior to joining Bread for the World as the Director of Strategic Communications and Campaigns three years ago, she led nonprofits to increase access to social services and protect the legal rights and dignity of historically marginalized groups.
At International Justice Mission/Zambia, a global organization that protects people in poverty from violence, she advocated for widows’ economic rights; trained local police and clergy serving women and children experiencing trauma; and coordinated participation in the USAID Stop Gender Based Violence Access to Justice Project. Taylor also previously served as pro bono attorney for the Legal Aid Society Haitian Temporary Protected Status Project and received the Mobilization for Justice (formerly MFY Legal Services) Partner in Justice Award.
Taylor has served on U.S. State Department delegations in Eastern Europe led by the Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women to promote women’s political participation in emerging democratic societies. As a Bread spokesperson, Taylor has made guest TV appearances on CNN, C-SPAN, NBC, Scripps News, and Cox News outlets.
“I am honored to work alongside Rev. Eugene Cho and dedicated staff and partners at Bread for the World.” Taylor said. “As a Christian African American woman and member of the African diaspora, a global community of African descendants who due largely to systemic ills experiences among the highest hunger and poverty rates, Bread’s mission for me is truly a reflection of my lifelong calling.”
