Javier Soto

Javier Soto
President and CEO, The Denver Foundation

Javier Alberto Soto serves as President and CEO of The Denver Foundation, a community foundation that deploys philanthropy, civic leadership, and community investment to improve the quality of life in Metro Denver.

Since joining the foundation in the fall of 2019, Javier has led the development of a strategic framework for the organization and the mobilization of significant resources to help the area respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Javier also embarked on a bike tour of Metro Denver, cycling through all 78 of Denver’s neighborhoods while convening community leaders to discuss issues important to them along the way.

Prior to his move to Colorado, Javier served as President and CEO of The Miami Foundation, where he worked to increase philanthropy and civic engagement in Greater Miami. Javier led the Miami Foundation through a period of significant growth that has positioned the organization as a prominent civic and philanthropic leader in the South Florida community. Under Javier’s leadership, the Miami Foundation launched several signature initiatives, including “Give Miami Day,” a 24-hour annual online charitable giving event that has raised more than $200 million for Miami-area nonprofits since 2012.

Javier began his career in the public sector, beginning as a litigator in the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office and later serving as Chief of Staff to County Mayor Alex Penelas. He has also worked in the private sector, serving as a litigation associate at Holland & Knight and as General Counsel at Grayling, a multi-disciplinary public affairs firm.

Javier has been active on a number of civic and corporate boards. He currently serves on the boards of First Southwest Bank, America’s Promise Alliance and Firefly Autism. Previously, Javier served as board chair of the Council on Foundations, as a bank director at TotalBank, and as a member of the Orange Bowl Committee. Javier was selected as a Henry Crown Fellow, a leadership program of the Aspen Institute that engages the next generation of leaders to develop community-spirited and values-focused leadership. Javier is a member of the Colorado Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Javier holds a B.A. in History and Political Science from Florida State University, a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Colorado Denver, earned in 2024.