Julia Roig

Julia Roig, President, Partners Global. Ms. Roig represents the next generation of leadership in the international development field as the CEO of one of the most preeminent global organizations dedicated to innovative governance solutions for development. Partners Global (Partners) believes that good governance and change management are the underpinning of all development challenges, and has a successful track record of building civil society and broad partnerships to effect democratic change.  Partners is a leader in the field of Sustainable Impact Investment, and has successfully invested in local Centers for Change Management throughout the world with a focus on social entrepreneurship for civic engagement.  Together with these affiliate Centers, Partners supports local leaders to collaboratively address a myriad of issues such as citizen security, natural resource management, education reform, health care and anti-corruption. As President, Julia Roig has solidified private sector partnerships to reach development goals, in particular a long-standing global relationship with General Electric in over 10 countries. In addition, Ms. Roig has spearheaded linkages with entertainment and advertising industry leaders to support peacebuilding efforts, most recently pro bono campaigns to support the peace talks in Colombia and to combat religious intolerance in Europe.

Ms. Roig provides technical and strategic leadership within the global network of affiliate Centers, together with an office in Brussels, and represents the organization within the foreign assistance community with a personal commitment to multi-lateralism and global cooperation.  During her tenure, she conceived of and oversaw a three-year global evaluation of the Partners’ investment model in local Centers.  The final report released in 2014 has made a substantial contribution to learning in the international development field, including: authentic international and local partnerships, sustainable investment in local capacity, and long-term impact on democratic governance.

Ms. Roig is an attorney licensed in the state of Maryland with many years of diverse international management experience and practical field work. She is a substantive expert in Good Governance, Rule of Law, and Conflict Resolution, and has provided systems design, strategic planning, cooperative advocacy, program management, community outreach and training throughout the world.  Prior to joining Partners, Julia served for two years as the Country Director for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in Belgrade Serbia.  She is also a recognized expert on community justice and dispute resolution in Colombia having spent five years living and working from Bogota, promoting a national expansion of the Equity Conciliation and Justice Houses programs.   Julia is a specialist in the evaluation of international assistance programs and impact assessments, and has served as team leader for complex, multi-country evaluations in Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and Senegal.

Prior to her international work, Julia served as the Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator for both the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, and the D.C. Courts, acting as the main architect and promoter of new workplace dispute resolution services in both institutions.  She previously served as the Chair of the International Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution and as a member of the Editorial Board of Conflict Resolution Quarterly. She is currently on the board of directors of the Alliance for Peace-building.  Ms. Roig received her J.D. from the George Washington School of Law and is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French.