MONIKA Kalra VARMA

President & CEO

Monika Kalra Varma joined BoardSource in August 2022 as the President & CEO. She brings over twenty dedicated years leading human rights and social justice organizations in the United States and abroad. Most recently, she served as the Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCRSF), the oldest civil rights institution on the West Coast. Monika and her team partnered with BIPOC communities to advance racial, immigrant, and economic rights. She led an organizational transformation at every level. As a result, the LCCRSF’s staff size nearly tripled, the organization’s revenue and budget doubled, and the organizational culture transformed to center staff well-being.

Monika also served as the Director of the Center for Human Rights at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights (RFK Center) where she advanced human rights through partnerships with social movement leaders around the globe. She is a strategic leader and advocacy champion working to dismantle systems of oppression and racism.

Monika was the Executive Director of the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, the largest provider of pro bono legal services in the District of Columbia serving 20,000 individuals, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses and also served on the D.C. Bar’s executive team. Monika currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the Foundation for System Change.  Monika’s leadership tools and strategies are grounded in love and guided by the world she wants to raise her children in. Monika and her husband find their greatest joy in raising their fourteen-year-old daughter and 10-year-old twin boys.