Lidia Soto-Harmon serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Student Conservation Association (SCA), the largest provider of hands-on environmental conservation programs for youth and adults in the nation. Last year, the SCA engaged more than 2,000 youth and young adults in hands-on environmental conservation programs who collectively provided nearly 1 million hours of service at federal, state, and local parks and natural areas. SCA participants increase the nation’s climate resiliency, reduce wildfire risks, enhance equity and environmental justice, strengthen urban communities, implement historic preservation initiatives and retire backlogged maintenance projects.
Prior to joining the SCA, Soto-Harmon was the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capital, the largest council in the country for the past 13 years, serving over 76,000 members in the Greater Washington region. During her almost 19-year tenure at the Girl Scouts, she also served as Chief Operating Officer for six years. She was directly responsible for building a compelling strategy to successfully expand access for girls across the region, transforming programs, creating experiences in the outdoors, and engaging communities to support and expand youth development.
Before joining the Girl Scouts, Soto-Harmon served as Senior Vice President of Community Development for First Book, a national children’s literacy organization dedicated to getting new books into the hands of children from low-income families. She also previously served as Deputy Director of the President’s Interagency Council on Women at the U.S. Department of State and Senior Director for the Fannie Mae Foundation’s Targeted Outreach Department. She currently serves as Chair and Trustee of Migration Policy Institute, Executive Committee member for the Booz Allen Foundation, Board Member for First Book – a national Children’s literacy organization, Chair of the Advisory Council for the master’s in public administration at the Schar School of Public Policy and Government and is an Adjunct Faculty member at George Mason University.
This summer, Soto-Harmon completed several SCA site visits. She traveled to Alaska to visit SCA members in action, including the SCA’s Women Wildland Fire Crew and Sled Dog Kennel Interns, both stationed at Denali National Park. She learned how to cold-start a chainsaw and traveled 1,001 miles to visit SCA program participants across the state.
Soto-Harmon holds a master’s in public administration from George Mason University and has participated in various Executive Leadership Programs at Harvard, Stanford and the Center for Creative Leadership. She has a bachelor’s in arts from George Mason University. She is also a member of the International Women’s Forum, the Washington Business Journal Women Who Mean Business, and Leadership Greater Washington Class of 2007. Soto-Harmon is married and has two fantastic bilingual adult children.
