Bio
Reverend Heather Taylor brings over 25 years of nonprofit senior management and operations experience in community- and faith-based organizations in the Washington, D.C. region. As a lawyer and an ordained Baptist minister whose vocation sits at the intersection of faith and justice, Rev. Taylor has devoted her ministry and career to international human rights and development, and to lifting the voices of people who experience food insecurity, poverty, and violence in the U.S. and around the world.
Rev. Taylor has been a senior leader for eight years at Bread for the World, where she most recently served as the Managing Director overseeing the program and policy executive teams in developing advocacy, grassroots mobilization, and communications strategies to inspire its network of 300,000 activists and partners, as well as influence U.S. Congress to end hunger. As a Bread spokesperson, Rev. Taylor has made guest TV appearances on CNN, C-SPAN, CBN, NBC, Scripps News, and Cox News and authored op-eds featured in The Hill, Newsweek and USA Today, among other news outlets.
In prior leadership roles, Rev. Taylor led faith-based nonprofit organizations focused on meeting basic human needs and protecting the legal rights and dignity of vulnerable populations. She collaborated with multiple boards of directors to develop and implement strategic plans, fundraising initiatives, and communications and marketing strategies. During the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, she served on U.S. State Department delegations led by the U.S. Representative to the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women to promote women’s participation in emerging democratic societies in Eastern Europe. As a legal fellow at International Justice Mission, a Christian nonprofit that protects people in poverty from violence, she advocated for the economic rights of women and children facing poverty and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and coordinated participation in USAID projects addressing violence against women. She has worked as a pro bono attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Haitian Temporary Protected Status Project and has also received the Mobilization for Justice ‘Partner in Justice’ Award.
Rev. Taylor currently serves on the boards of directors of the Alliance to End Hunger, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, as well as her home church in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2025, she was elected to serve as a church delegate at the Baptist Lott Carey Global Christian Community conference, a mission ministry focused on providing financial aid and technical assistance to empowerment and advocacy projects addressing hunger, human trafficking, and HIV/AIDS prevention, among other initiatives.
Rev. Taylor holds a J.D. from the University of Iowa, a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary, where she received the Center of Public Theology James Miller Award for her work in Christian Ethics and Social Action, and a B.S. from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Speaking Topics & Audiences
Rev. Heather Taylor weaves her compelling personal story into her preaching and speaking about hunger and the role of faith in the public square. You can find Heather in the media in places like C-Span, in pulpits like Alfred Street Baptist Church, or in front of an interfaith audience at a Synagogue or University.
Additional Resources
- Heather on CNN: Hunger and COVID
- Heather on CSPAN – Hunger and COVID
- Heather on CSPAN – SNAP
- A Prayer Vigil for Foreign Aid