Nancy E Roman

Nancy E. Roman joined the Capital Area Food Bank as President and CEO in January 2013 after a 25-year international career spanning journalism, business, U.S. government, Wall Street and the United Nations.

In her new position, Roman is responsible for the entire operation of the 32-year old Capital Area Food Bank. The CAFB, with its annual budget of $18 million and a staff of 130, powers 700 partner agencies to end hunger in the Washington metro area. In that role, she oversees:

• the collection, storage and distribution of 33 million pounds of food, half of which is fresh produce, to nearly 500,000 men, women and children;

• a team of nutrition experts working to provide healthier food and teach healthy habits;

• a team of 18,000 volunteers annually; as well as

• IT, communications, fundraising and overall operations.

Roman’s immediate past position was Director of Public/Private Partnerships and Communications at the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP), the world’s largest humanitarian agency, feeding 100 million people in 75 countries. Based in Rome, she
supervised a global staff of more than 100, with responsibility for operations in more than 80 countries and was a member of the organization’s senior leadership team. Her major responsibilities were: heading private sector partnerships that quintupled funds raised from the private sector and the general public; communicating the WFP message through mainstream and social media and designing the WFP’s award winning website wfp.org; and crafting organization positions on public policy issues ranging from climate change to agricultural development. She also chaired the WFP’s Investment Committee which had more than $1 billion under management.

Prior to joining WFP, Roman served as Vice President of the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C. where she established the Council’s congressional program designed to integrate ideas generated in the think tank environment with policy decisions. She authored “Both Sides of the Aisle: A Call for Bipartisan Foreign Policy,” a Council Special Report published in 2005 that analyzed political polarization in Washington and proposed steps to build bridges between the parties and foster a more productive dialogue in foreign policy.

Before that, Roman served as president of the G7 Group, a strategic consulting firm that advised Wall Street on how political, legislative, central banking and regulatory developments affected institutional investments. The firm’s more than 120 clients – investment banks, hedge funds and asset management companies – were based in the financial communities of New York, London and Tokyo.

Roman also spent 10 years as a journalist covering politics, congress, foreign policy and economics. As congressional bureau chief for The Washington Times, she oversaw both the newspaper’s election and legislative coverage.

Roman came to Washington in 1988 as press secretary and foreign affairs adviser for U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, Jr. (R-FL), a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

She holds a Master of Arts degree in International Economics and American Foreign Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and French from Baylor University.

Roman is married to Steven Cohen and has two children, Daniel, 18 and Taylor Beth, 16.