ACS is very proud to announce a successful conclusion to our search for a new executive director: Caroline Fredrickson (right).

Since 2005, Fredrickson has been the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington Legislative Office, where she led the organization's efforts to promote its priorities in Congress, the White House and federal agencies. Her selection is the culmination of a thorough search process that began after the former ACS Director Lisa Brown was selected by President Obama to be Assistant to the President and White House Staff Secretary. Deputy Executive Director David Lyle has admirably served as acting executive director in the meantime.

Prior to assuming leadership of the ACLU's national legislative portfolio, Fredrickson served as General Counsel and Legal Director of NARAL Pro-Choice America. Before that, Fredrickson was Chief of Staff to Sen. Maria Cantwell and Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle. During the Clinton administration, Fredrickson served as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs. She has been widely published and appears frequently in the media on topics including labor law, anti-discrimination law, and human and civil rights issues. She holds a law degree from Columbia and graduated summa cum laude from Yale. 

"We could not ask for a better leader than Caroline Fredrickson to take ACS into its next stage of development and growth," said Goodwin Liu, Chair of the ACS Board of Directors and Associate Dean and Professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law.