Board of Directors

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans Appoints Allison Binns and Vivek H. Murthy to its Board of Directors

November 10, 2020

Two side by side headshots. On the right a man in his 40s with heritage from United Kingdom with medium skin tone and salt and pepper short hair. He is wearing an Admiral Navy uniform. He is smiling at the camera. On the right, a woman in her 30s who has heritage from Jamaica with medium-dark skin tone and shoulder length curly black hair half pulled back. She is wearing a light pink collarless coat with a black shirt underneath and large white earrings. She is smiling at the camera.

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans announced today the appointment of two new board members, Allison Binns and Vivek H. Murthy, both past recipients of the prestigious Fellowship, which supports outstanding immigrants and children of immigrants pursuing graduate school in the United States.

“When my husband and I set out to build the fellowship program 22 years ago, we could have never dreamed of the community of New Americans we now have,” Ms. Daisy Soros, a founder of the program explained. “It is an honor to have Fellows, like Allison Binns and Vivek Murthy, who have contributed so much to US society, now taking on substantial leadership roles in our own organization.”

“This is a critical moment for New Americans in our country. We’re thrilled to have two of our very own remarkable leaders joining the Board who will each bring so much to our work. Allison and Vivek have made exceptional contributions to the New American community and are deeply committed to the values of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship, ” said Craig Harwood, the Fellowship’s Director.

Allison Binns is a 2003 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow, the child of immigrants from Jamaica, and is currently an executive director for Global Sustainability Research at Morgan Stanley. She recently completed a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship in Frankfurt, Germany. Previously, Binns worked for Chevron Corp in San Francisco where she focused on environmental, social, governance, and geopolitical issues. Prior to joining Chevron, Allison spent three years working for the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball and the Baseball Operations Department at the Boston Red Sox. Now in New York City, Binns serves on the board of the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy and as president of the Poetry Society of America’s Board of Governors. She received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Princeton University and a PhD in sociology from Harvard University, where she was supported by The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.

“Seventeen years after receiving the fellowship, The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship community has remained a rich and meaningful presence in my life. I look forward to working alongside the other esteemed directors to advance the education of these talented Fellows who will continue to shape the future of the country,” said Binns.

Vivek H. Murthy is a 1998 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow, the child of immigrants from India, and a public health leader in the United States. As the 19th US surgeon general of the United States, Murthy focused on addiction, the opioid crisis, E-cigarettes, walking and walkability, chronic stress, loneliness, and vaccines. His new book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, was released in 2020. He was recently named by President-elect Joe Biden as the Co-Chair of the US COVID-19 Transition Advisory Board.. He received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and MD/MBA degrees from Yale University where he was supported by The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.

“The Paul and Daisy Soros community has been an enduring source of support, comfort, and friendship for me for more than two decades. I’m so grateful to Paul and Daisy for creating this family. I look forward to contributing to and learning from the community in this new capacity,” said Murthy.

The current Board of Directors includes Peter Georgescu, Roxana Daneshjou, Paul Holdengraber, Ann Kirschner, Noel Lateef, N.J. Nicholas Jr., Daisy M. Soros, Jeffrey Soros, and Peter Soros. All of the organization’s directors serve at the request of the chairman of the board.

Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship board members are invited to serve by the Soros family and serve flexible term limits based on the needs of the Fellowship. Board members advise the Fellowship on matters relating to grant making, eligibility, selection, educational focus, community building, governance, and professional standards. The Fellowship’s board members have extensive experience in the worlds of finance, higher education, business, advertising, law, public policy, public health, technology, the arts, and the nonprofit sector. Learn more about our Board here.

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans program honors the contributions of immigrants and children of immigrants to the United States. Each year, the organization invests in the graduate education of 30 New Americans—immigrants and children of immigrants—who are poised to make significant contributions to US society, culture or their academic field. Each Fellow receives up to $90,000 in financial support over two years, and they join a lifelong community of New American Fellows of nearly 700 people.

The purpose of the Fellowship is to provide opportunities for continuing generations of able and accomplished New Americans to achieve leadership in their chosen fields and to partake of the American dream. The program was established in the late 1990’s in recognition of the contributions New Americans have made to American life and in gratitude for the opportunities the United States afforded the founders of the Fellowship, Paul & Daisy Soros. ∎