ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Center for Victims of Torture™ (CVT) announces the appointment of Sonya Funna Evelyn as president and chief executive officer to lead the organization in its mission to heal the wounds of torture and end its use worldwide. Ms. Funna Evelyn will join CVT on January 26, moving from her recent position as vice president for sustainable development at ADRA International, a global humanitarian organization that serves 26 million people each year.
“It is my great pleasure to welcome Sonya Funna Evelyn to the Center for Victims of Torture to lead its strategy for innovation and expansion,” said Julia Classen, chair of the CVT board of directors. “Her extensive background and track record of developing and launching successful international initiatives are more than simply impressive: her work has changed lives on a global basis.”
Ms. Funna Evelyn has decades of senior leadership experience in global development and humanitarian response. With a deep commitment to health and wellbeing, she specializes in building and sustaining partnerships with bilateral and multilateral agencies, corporations, academic institutions and philanthropic foundations. During her tenure at ADRA, Ms. Funna Evelyn was a key driver of strategic growth, setting vision and direction across the organization’s network of more than 120 country offices.
With a background in clinical psychology, Ms. Funna Evelyn has led teams of technical, business development and program experts working in countries spanning the globe. Ms. Funna Evelyn has a demonstrated commitment to initiatives that incorporate education and sustainable practices, with an emphasis on partnerships and programs that have real and far-reaching impact on people’s lives. Her background also includes delivering home-based, trauma informed individual and family counseling in community settings.
“I am delighted to join CVT, an organization I have long admired for its profound healing work with people who have survived torture, but also for its notable programs that bring sustainability and resilience to people working to support survivors and for human rights around the world,” said Ms. Funna Evelyn. “Over many years of doing this work, I have met a lot of people from all walks of life and most of us want the same things: to feel safe, have access to opportunities that improve our lives, and live in communities where we feel we belong. This work is complex, and it is necessary. I am honored to join this talented team and to ever more closely support this critical global need, at this time.”
Born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Ms. Funna Evelyn moved to the United States with her family when she was a child. She holds both a Master’s degree in International Development Studies from the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, and a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at George Mason University. She is based in Maryland.
-###-
The Center for Victims of Torture is a nonprofit organization with offices in Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Uganda, United States and additional project sites around the world. Visit www.cvt.org.
