- Binaifer is the daughter of veteran Kenyan lawyer and writer Pheroze Nowrojee.
- Before joining Open Society, Nowrojee served as legal counsel at Human Rights Watch and as a staff attorney at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.
Image: Handout
Kenyan lawyer Binaifer Nowrojee has been named the new president of Open Society Foundations (OSF), a prominent U.S.-based private supporter of independent human rights organizations.
OSF, established by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, revealed Nowrojee's appointment in a statement on Monday, announcing her succession of Mark Malloch-Brown, who will step down in June.
“When I established the Open Society Foundations, I wanted them to be truly global,” Soros said of the grantmaking network he founded in 1993.
“At the outset, that was merely an aspiration. But now I feel that this ambition has been fulfilled with Binaifer Nowrojee as president of the Foundations, supported by an international team. I am grateful to Mark Malloch-Brown for all he has done, and for laying the groundwork for us to reach this goal."
Nowrojee will make history as the first woman from the global south to assume the leadership of OSF.
She is the daughter of veteran Kenyan lawyer and writer Pheroze Nowrojee.
Nowrojee, previously OSF’s vice president of programs, played a crucial role in overseeing a significant transition that began in 2021.
With over three decades of experience, she held various senior positions at the network, including East Africa Foundation director, regional director for Asia Pacific, and vice president for Organizational Transformation.
Before joining Open Society, Nowrojee served as legal counsel at Human Rights Watch and as a staff attorney at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.
Her work has extensively focused on prosecuting sexual violence under international law, and she testified as an expert witness at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Nowrojee holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School.