Shari Turitz

Vice President for Programs, American Jewish World Service

Shari Turitz is the Vice President for Programs at AJWS, leading the Programs Division and overseeing AJWS’s human rights grant making, domestic and international strategy. She brings with her more than 20 years of experience in human rights grantmaking, capacity building and advocacy, and 15 years of senior management and program development experience.  Shari overseas all of AJWS’s thematic programs, including the Humanitarian Response program that focusses on a localization model and support for most marginalized populations.

Shari began her career as a human rights activist working to end U.S. intervention in the Salvadoran and Guatemalan civil wars. Shari worked for The Synergos Institute for more than a decade, where she led its largest global program to develop leadership networks of civil society professionals in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Before joining AJWS in 2013, Shari served as director of programs for the Open Society Foundation’s Public Health Program, co-leading a 55-person global team of international grant makers and advocates.

Shari holds a B.A. in political science and Latin American studies from Tufts University and an M.A. from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.