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The Los Angeles chapter became part of the SOAR family in October 2007. With a significant amount of non-profit experience, the LA Board of Directors is represented in the business management, finance, legal, medical, pharmacological, and political science fields. If you would like to reach any officer on the LA board, please feel free to contact them by email.
 Kohar Mardiros Pelter, RN, M.N.
President
kpelter@soar-us.org
Kohar earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the American University of Beirut and Masters in Nursing from University California, Los Angeles. She has held educator and administrator positions at AUMC, UCLA and Kaiser Permanente hospitals. She has also served as a consultant for UCLA, Huntington Memorial Hospital, AMGEN and other institutions for improvement of organizational effectiveness and outcomes management. She is actively involved with local and international Armenian organizations in children and family sponsorship, volunteering and charity work. SOAR mirrors her passion and dedication to help Armenian orphans and orphanages. She hopes to bring her years of clinical and administrative experiences to make a difference in the lives of Armenian orphans and supporting this great humanitarian effort. Lives in Southern California with her husband Mitch and daughter Megan.
 Kevin Avetikyan
Treasurer
kavetikyan@soar-us.org
Kevin Avetikyan is a financial professional who owned a successful tax and financial business for five years before joining a major insurance and financial company. Kevin was born in Yerevan, Armenia and moved to the U.S. when he was 10 years
old. For over 10 years he has been very active in the Armenian community. Kevin strongly believes that the efforts of the SOAR have the far reaching prospect of bettering the lives of the Armenian children in the orphanages and beyond. He is devoted to dedicating his time and expertise to this end.
 Ani N. Shabazian, Ph.D.
Secretary
Ani Shabazian earned her B.A. from UCLA where she majored in Psychology and History and minored in Applied Developmental Psychology. She went on to pursue a Master's degree in Human Developmental Psychology from Harvard University. Ani then returned to UCLA to complete an MA/Ph.D. program in Urban Schooling from UCLA's Department of Education. Ani is the recipient of the UCLA Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award. While at UCLA, Ani had the privilege of being trained at the world renowned Pikler Institute, a Hungarian orphanage noted for its innovative and successful approach to rearing children raised in institutions. Ani's research interests focus on best practices in caring for children raised in institutional settings. Currently, Ani has a dual appointment at Loyola Marymount University (LMU), serving as an Assistant Professor in the LMU School of Education and as the Director of the Children's Center. She feels truly privileged to be working with an organization such as SOAR that that is devoted to advocating for the causes of social justice in the realm of children's development and education.
 Peter Abajian
Peter Abajian has spent the majority of his professional career focusing on non-profit management and fundraising. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Harbor and attended graduate courses in Business and marketing at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Peter works as the Executive Director of The Paros Foundation, a Berkeley, CA based Foundation, focusing on developing high-quality high-integrity non-governmental organizations in Armenia by significantly upgrading their working environment, providing guidance and needed resources. This effort takes him to Armenia frequently. He lives in Southern California with his wife Houry and two identical twin daughters.
 Nora Boghossian
Nora Boghossian is the litigation paralegal with Rutter Hobbs & Davidoff Incorporated. Ms. Boghossian earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from California State University of Northridge in 1999. She earned her Paralegal Certificate from the University of La Verne in 1993 and attends continuing education programs. She has served as a board member in the Los Angeles Paralegal Association (LAPA). She is a member of LAPA as well as the Armenian Bar Association. She has also volunteered for the Armenia Tree Project. She resides in Beverly Hills, CA.
 Julia Yeranossian-Aghishian, MS, J.D.
Julia Yeranossian-Aghishian is an avid advocate of Armenian identity and cause. Julia contributes her time and efforts to strengthen and support Armenia's power after her independence from the Soviet Union. Upon receiving her master's degree in political science, she went on and pursued her studies in law and received her doctorate degree in law in 1991. For the first decade of her business life she pursued the legal rights of underprivileged women and children, her passion was continuously being focused on the minority groups who suffered the most. She pursued community volunteer work serving as the Secretary of the Parent Teacher's Organization of A.G.B.U. Manoogian-Demirdjian School and later on as the Chairperson of said organization. She is an activist of women and children's rights and a firm believer that only through education such rights can be attained. She is a member of the Armenia Fund Presidential Gala Committee, and volunteers for various projects. Julia has served as the Secretary of the Etchmiadzin Children's Fund and the Armenian General Benevolent Union Southern California District Committee's Ladies Society; She currently serves as the Chairperson of AGBU school's Paradon Soiree Committee; a delegate of UREP-LA, the Under Represented Ethnic People in the greater Los Angeles area, established by the city of L.A. to protect the Armenian cause, and is the co-founder of International Parent's Inc. a non-profit global networking organization established primarily to enhance and develop children's aptitudes. Julia currently resides in southern California with her husband and daughter.
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