Skye L. Perryman is President and CEO of Democracy Forward, a nonpartisan, national legal organization that promotes democracy and progress through litigation, regulatory engagement, policy education, and research. Perryman took the helm at Democracy Forward a few months after January 6, 2021, in the midst of rising extremism in communities and courts across the country. She has built a visionary team of legal, policy, and communications experts to confront anti-democratic extremism head-on while also using the law to advance progress and a bold vision for the future. Under Perryman’s leadership, Democracy Forward has expanded the scope and reach of its work, emerging as a nationally recognized institution that is taking on the most significant issues affecting people, families, and communities– from defending civil rights and fair wages to seeking to expand access to reproductive health care post-Dobbs to confronting attacks on education to addressing the climate crisis and much more. Perryman often leverages the power of ordinary Americans, business, industries, and unlikely allies to create impact in this critical time. In 2024, Perryman was named one of the Most Influential People Shaping Policy by Washingtonian magazine, which noted her role as a resource for both moderates and progressives. 

Known for her strategic insight and impact-oriented leadership, Perryman has a track record of winning tough legal and policy battles, uniting diverse coalitions, and elevating voices that represent the fabric of our country to deliver results that improve the lives of millions. Over the course of her nearly two decade legal career, Perryman has provided legal and strategic counsel for a broad range of clients and institutions. She previously served as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. There, she oversaw legal and policy strategies that resulted in historic advancements in access to health care for women, including developing strategies to support the extension of postpartum Medicaid coverage for more than 500,000 people, overseeing litigation that enabled the distribution of mifepristone by mail for the first time in US history, launching an industry-wide effort to promote racial equity in medicine, and leading comprehensive legal and policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to ACOG, Perryman was a member of the founding litigation team at Democracy Forward, where, in the wake of the 2016 election, she sued to halt the voter suppression activities of the now-disbanded Pence-Kobach voting commission, developed challenges to the politically-motivated rollback of evidence-based program funding, and exposed corruption and wrongdoing through litigation. Perryman has also served in litigation roles at two global law firms where she gained the trust of clients in the health care, financial services, education, and consumer products industries while simultaneously maintaining an active pro bono practice, receiving numerous commendations and awards for her work. 

Perryman is a frequent guest lecturer and keynote speaker to national and international audiences on matters at the intersection of law and policy. Her legal work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court as well as state supreme courts and her work and perspective are frequently covered by major media outlets such as The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, The Washington Post, TIME, Forbes Women, Insider, Ms. Magazine, and Teen Vogue, among many others.

Ms. Perryman grew up in Waco, Texas and is a proud product of K-12 public education. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Philosophy magna cum laude from Baylor University where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and a Juris Doctor with honors from the Georgetown University Law Center where she served as an Editor for the American Criminal Law Review and was an Editor in Chief for the ACLR’s Annual Survey on White Collar Crime. Skye serves on the boards of the Atlas Performing Arts Center, the Interfaith Alliance, the Baylor Line Foundation, and the Texas Observer.

Armond Baboomian is Chief of Staff and Operations & Deputy General Counsel at Democracy Forward. 

Armond comes to Democracy Forward with a deep background in national security. Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Armond worked at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an analyst and an Assistant General Counsel. Armond earned an LL.M. in National Security Law from Georgetown University Law Center and a J.D. with a concentration in International Law from the University of California Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings). Armond attended college at University of California, Berkeley, where he studied Political Science, Rhetoric, and Business Administration.

Armond is a member of the California Bar. Armond enjoys traveling.

Gaby Alvarado is a Senior Digital Strategist at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, she served as a Political Appointee in the Biden-Harris administration, working as a Policy Advisor at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Gaby specializes in uplifting underrepresented and marginalized communities through policy creation, strategic communications, and stakeholder engagement.

Before joining the executive branch, Gaby led multi-million dollar grassroots fundraising campaigns for various progressive organizations. Gaby earned her B.A. in International Relations from American University.

Amahree Archie is the Press Secretary at Democracy Forward.

She and brings years of experience — from the campaign trail to Capitol Hill — managing press, creating messaging that resonates, and telling powerful stories. 

Before joining Democracy Forward, Amahree served as Nevada Press Secretary for the Harris for President campaign, where she led media outreach, rapid response, and message strategy in a key battleground state. Previously, Amahree served as Deputy Press Secretary for U.S. Senator Cory Booker, where she helped drive national and local media coverage on a wide range of issues, including reproductive rights and criminal justice reform. 

Amahree is passionate about equity, public service, and using communications as a tool to connect people to purpose. She earned her B.A. in Government and African and African Diaspora Studies from The University of Texas at Austin. 

Will Bardwell is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

After graduating with honors from the University of Mississippi in 2003, he spent two years as a newspaper reporter at a small, daily newspaper in east Mississippi. In 2008, he returned to the University of Mississippi for law school and graduated with honors.

Will joined Democracy Forward in 2022 after working for six years at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where he developed and litigated cases concerning public education, voting rights, prison conditions, disproportionate sentencing, and other civil rights issues. Before SPLC, Will was in private practice for five years. Will also served as a law clerk at the Mississippi Supreme Court and for Judge Carlton W. Reeves at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. His experience spans every stage of litigation, and he has litigated in venues ranging from Mississippi justice courts to the United States Supreme Court.

Will is a member of the Mississippi Bar Association, the Magnolia Bar Association, the D.C. Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association. He is a Green Bay Packers fan and an avid golfer who has contributed to a handful of golf publications, including The Fried Egg and The Golfer’s Journal.

Brooke Bartschat is a Policy and Public Affairs Associate at Democracy Forward. 

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Brooke completed an internship with the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, where she assisted in communications and policy work to foster and support the development of effective alcohol and other drug use prevention and treatment programs throughout the country. Brooke received her B.A. in Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government from American University last fall, and hopes to pursue a J.D. sometime in the future.

Jacob Bernard is the Deputy Press Secretary at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Jacob was a Press Assistant to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in the Biden-Harris Administration. In that role, he served as a primary point of contact between members of the White House Press Corps and the Administration. Jacob also brings Capitol Hill and advocacy experience, having worked for Congressman John Larson, Congressman Donald Norcross, and the Human Rights Campaign.

He holds a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Diana Blanco is an Executive Assistant at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Diana worked as a Banker at Bank of America where she focused on client relationships through proactive outreach, in person meetings to evaluate financial priorities, and providing realistic pathways with the help of partner connections within Bank of America. Diana took great pride in teaching financial literacy in various communities in the Metropolitan area.

Jake Blaut is the Program & Special Projects Coordinator for the Civil Service Strong and Good Government Initiatives at Democracy Forward.

He joins Democracy Forward after serving at the U.S. Department of Education in the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs where he facilitated outreach and engagement between Congressional offices and the Department. In that role, he coordinated legislative technical assistance requests and developed research on career, technical, and adult education and higher education issues. Jake has also worked on a variety of political campaigns from the presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, and congressional levels – including former President Biden’s 2020 primary and general election campaigns.

Jake received his B.S. in Economics and Political Science from Florida State University and is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Pooja Boisture is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining the organization, Pooja was an attorney in the Appellate Section of the Department of Justice, Tax Division, where she represented the United States before federal courts of appeals in cases involving tax and administrative law issues. She briefed and argued high-profile cases on behalf of the government, including cases involving regulatory issues post-Loper Bright. Prior to working in the DOJ, Pooja worked for Debevoise & Plimpton, and, earlier, at Hogan Lovells. She had a diverse private practice, where she worked on commercial litigation, white collar investigations, and appeals. She also maintained an active pro bono practice, focusing on impact litigation. Her pro bono work included leading a class action lawsuit against the New York City Housing Authority on behalf of public housing tenants, and a lawsuit against ICE on behalf of a class of detained immigrants.

Pooja attended Columbia Law School and Boston College. Between college and law school, Pooja worked on reproductive rights at NARAL Pro-Choice New York. She also interned at the New York Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Rights Project after her first year of law school. Pooja clerked for the Honorable Jane Richards Roth on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. She is an officer and member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court.

Andrew Bookbinder is a Legal Fellow at Democracy Forward.

Andrew graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in 2024, where he received the Edwin C. Baker award for most pro bono hours in the graduating class. While at Penn Law, Andrew served as the Co-President of the Democracy Law Project, an editor of the Journal of Law and Social Change, an inaugural Penn Law Equity & Inclusion Fellow, and the Public Interest Chair of Penn Law’s Asian Pacific American Law Student Association. Andrew also worked as a Certified Legal Intern with Penn Law’s Advocacy for Racial and Civil Justice Clinic. During his summers, he worked on civil rights issues at the ACLU of Virginia and the Special Litigation Division of the Public Defender Service of D.C.

Prior to law school, Andrew spent two years working as a casework supervisor at the American Red Cross of Los Angeles engaging in housing advocacy and for a year as an intern investigator at the Public Defender Service of D.C., where he supported both the civil and trial divisions. Originally from the D.C. area, Andrew graduated with honors from the College of William & Mary with a B.A. in government. 

Steven Bressler is a Senior Legal Advisor at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, he was at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he most recently served as Deputy General Counsel. At the CFPB he led all appellate, amicus, and defensive litigation work, including, with the Solicitor General, successful defense of the agency’s funding statute in the U.S. Supreme Court, and supervised responses to congressional oversight. He previously served at the DOJ in a variety of roles including Senior Trial Counsel in the Federal Programs Branch, where he litigated dozens of constitutional, administrative, national security, health care, and employment law cases; Chief of Staff in the Office of Legal Policy; and on detail to President Obama’s White House Counsel’s Office. He clerked for the Honorable Norma L. Shapiro on the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and, earlier in his career, was Senior Legislative Assistant to then-U.S. Representative Bernie Sanders.

Bressler holds a J.D., cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. from Oberlin College.

Dawn Canady is a Senior Litigation Paralegal at Democracy Forward.

Dawn has decades of experience in the legal field, starting in a solo practioner’s rural office. Since receiving a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Virginia, she has worked at the United States Supreme Court, two international law firms, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence (now Brady United), her local covid call center, and most recently, her local elections office. She has received multiple awards for her dedication and hard work. As a litigation paralegal, senior litigation paralegal, and appellate specialist, she has worked on many types of cases, but the most meaningful to her are the cases promoting justice, democracy, and fairness (civil rights, voting rights, due process, equal protection, marriage equality, campaign finance reform, immigration, and First Amendment cases; especially freeing the wrongfully convicted and detained, limiting the use of the death penalty, and assisting Native American communities). Dawn was also part of the practice management team and at every job has served as a crossover team player, pitching in wherever needed.

Dawn has been in the forefront at all of her workplaces in crafting processes and procedures to increase consistency, communication, and teamwork, and preparing instructional manuals and guides. She is known for her editing skills, attention to detail, and mentoring.

Gloria Chan (she/her) is a Senior Video and Digital Content Strategist.

Gloria is a seasoned and versatile video producer with 15+ years of experience in creating visual content for national advertising campaigns, commercial productions, and progressive movements. She specializes in video strategy that amplifies the voices of underrepresented communities, collaborating with grassroots organizations to help them tell their own stories.

Over the years, she has led video departments at both a boutique commercial production company and a progressive digital strategy firm. Gloria enjoys being hands-on in all aspects of production—from on-set direction to post-production editing.

Maria Fernanda Chanduvi is Senior Communications Manager at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, she worked as a policy fellow for Tech Policy.Press, focusing on technology policy and content moderation research. She contributed to several amicus brief reviews for legal cases before the Supreme Court.

She also served as a Strategic Communications Fellow at Seven Letter LLC, designing and executing communication strategies for various clients across healthcare, clean energy, education, and voting sectors.

Maria Fernanda holds a J.D., specializing in litigation law. She recently graduated from Georgetown University with an M.A. in Communication, Culture, and Technology and aims to explore the intersection of communication, law, and social issues.

Sunu P. Chandy (she/her) is a Senior Advisor with Democracy Forward.

In this role, she advocates for civil rights protections, and works alongside partner organizations, including LGBTQIA+ communities, to help build a nation that does right by all of us. Sunu is also the author of an award-winning collection of poems, My Dear Comrades. Before starting at Democracy Forward in September 2023, she served as the Legal Director of the National Women’s Law Center for six years. She led the Center’s litigation efforts, provided guidance for the Center’s policy positions towards greater workplace justice, and led their LGBTQIA+ rights work. She provided Congressional testimony in support of the Equality Act, a bill that would strengthen and clarify civil rights protections, and provided testimony before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Federal Sector and #metoo. Until August 2017, Sunu served as the Deputy Director for the Civil Rights Division with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and before that, Sunu was the General Counsel of the DC Office of Human Rights (OHR). Previously, Sunu was a federal litigator with the U.S. Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for 15 years. At EEOC, Sunu also led several outreach and training initiatives including as a member of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAPPI) Regional Working Group. Sunu began her legal career as a law firm associate representing unions and individual workers in New York City at Gladstein, Reif and Megginniss, LLP. Sunu earned her B.A. in Peace and Global Studies/Women’s Studies from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, and her MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Queens College/The City University of New York. Sunu serves on the board of directors for the Transgender Law Center, and has been included as one the Washington Blade’s Queer Women of Washington and one of Go Magazine’s 100 Women We Love.

Natasha Chisholm is a Legal Assistant at Democracy Forward. 

Prior to joining, Natasha completed an internship at Data for Progress, where she administered national surveys on topics such as abortion and police reform. Natasha received her B.A. in Global Studies, Applied Linguistics, and Russian from Washington University in St. Louis, and hopes to pursue a J.D. in the future.

Katherine Clugg is a Research Assistant at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining DF, Katherine studied and tracked far right extremism and white supremacy at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism and the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). She is interested in the mainstreaming of extremist ideologies and the effects on law and policy.

Katherine received a joint B.A. in Criminal Justice and Government and Politics, and a minor in Global Terrorism Studies from the University of Maryland.

Jennifer Fountain Connolly is a Senior Legal Advisor at Democracy Forward.

Jennifer comes to Democracy Forward with over twenty-five years of experience leading some of the nation’s most significant complex litigation. Prior to her arrival, she owned her own legal consulting firm advising government clients on affirmative litigation. Before establishing her firm, she was a shareholder at Baron & Budd, PC where she represented ten states and several large municipalities in cases filed across the country in the opioid litigation. Before that she was a partner at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and managed its Washington DC office, and was a partner at Wexler Wallace LLP. At both those firms Jennifer led national complex litigation including antitrust cases, pharmaceutical and consumer class actions, and whisteblower lawsuits. 

Earlier in her career, Jennifer practiced at a Denver-based litigation boutique that is now a part of Sherman & Howard and served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Business Regulation Unit of the Colorado Attorney General’s office where she worked on national and statewide antitrust and consumer protection matters.

Jennifer holds a BA in English from the University of Chicago and a JD from the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver. In September 2023 she founded Comes Now, a newsletter dedicated to supporting women in the legal profession.

Christine Coogle is Senior Staff Attorney at Democracy Forward.

Christine Coogle previously served as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division. In that role, she represented the government in constitutional and statutory challenges in federal district courts nationwide, including on matters related to the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, overtime pay protections for workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and statutory removal protections for administrative law judges. Christine received the Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for her work defending the Drug Price Negotiation Program, as well as the Civil Division Rookie of the Year Award and two Civil Division Special Commendation Awards. Prior to her work at DOJ, she clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Christine first gained experience in high-profile constitutional litigation while still an evening law student, as she spent more than two years working in the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. She worked on litigation on behalf of the House before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal appellate and district courts, as well as the U.S. Senate sitting as a court of impeachment.

Christine holds a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School with highest honors and a B.A. from the University of Virginia with high distinction.

Julie Couchman is the Director of Marketing & Special Projects at Democracy Forward. 

Julie  has an extensive background in events, client services and partnerships after 12 years at South By Southwest, a world-renowned conference and festival. She previously worked in Public Relations for a leading political consulting firm and in Marketing for the largest not-for-profit health care system in Texas. An avid traveler, she loves returning home to Texas where she was born and raised. Julie graduated from Texas State in San Marcos and has spent the last 17 years living in Austin. 

With a deep love for the arts, she proudly serves as the Special Projects Chair on the board for Women & Their Work, a nonprofit visual and performing arts organization that serves as a catalyst for new ideas in contemporary art created by women through exhibitions, performances, and educational workshops.

Francesca DeLiberis is the Operations Manager at Democracy Forward.

Francesca has a diversified background in office operations for different organizations. Prior to working at Democracy Forward, Francesca has worked as an Office Manager for Rapid Finance. She has also worked in office operations across various organizations including National Geographic Magazine, CBRE, and the Walton Family Foundation.

Francesca has received a B.A. in English from Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, NJ. She is originally from Vineland N.J., but resides in Maryland currently. She enjoys a good book, and is a bit of a cinephile. She loves to travel to new places, and loves a good trivia night where she can bring out the most random facts she knows

Orlando Economos is a Staff Attorney at Democracy Forward.

His work includes challenges designed to preserve civil rights remedies against attempted diminution, as well as affirmative actions to increase the access of citizens to democracy. 

Orlando received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he focused on election law and voting rights. He served as legal assistant to Civil Rights Commissioner David Kladney, and later presented oral argument to the D.C. Circuit as a student attorney with the Civil Rights Clinic at Georgetown. 

Orlando is native to northern New Jersey. He holds a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University and a diploma from St. John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Cathedral’s Greek Afternoon School. 

Mari Faines is the Manager of External Affairs and Coalitions at Democracy Forward.

Mari joins Democracy forward after serving as an Advisor for Strategy and Communications at the U.S. Department of State. Where she worked in the Office of the AUKUS senior Advisor on strategic communications, diverse stakeholder engagement, and congressional strategy.

Prior to joining the State Department she served as Partner for Mobilization at Global Zero; and Director of Communications and Outreach at Physicians for Social Responsibility. In both roles, she focused on the intersection of nuclear non-proliferation policy and social justice impacts. Prior to these roles, Mari served for five years at TransPerfect, a global solutions firm, where she held Project Manager; Team Lead positions in New York and London respectively.

Mari has written for multiple publications and is a former podcast host. She maintains her foundation in nuclear non-proliferation, conflict resolution, social and transitional justice, and intersectionality through volunteering for multiple advocacy organizations.

She has received honors for her work including being named to the 2022 CSIS/Diversity in National Security Network U.S. National Security & Foreign Affairs Leadership List.

She holds a Master of Science (MSc) in the Politics of Conflict, Rights, and Justice from SOAS University of London, and Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Peace and Conflict Studies & English from Colgate University.

Carrie Flaxman is a Senior Legal Advisor at Democracy Forward.

Carrie joined Democracy Forward after nearly two decades as a litigator and legal advisor for Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) where she most recently was PPFA’s Senior Director of Public Policy, Litigation, and Law. Over the course of her career, Flaxman has served as lead counsel in a number of trial and appellate matters at the state and federal levels, winning victories that maintained and improved access to reproductive health care services against difficult odds.  At Democracy Forward, Flaxman supports the organization in crafting legal strategies to advance the rights of all people and to stop attempts by state and local governmental actors to undermine our democratic values.  

Flaxman began her legal career as a clerk for Judge Edward R. Becker of the US Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit, held positions at two national law firms where she handled complex litigation matters, and then joined PPFA.  She later served as a consulting attorney for reproductive rights organizations before rejoining PPFA’s national office. Flaxman is a graduate of Yale Law School, where she was executive editor of the Yale Law Journal, and Princeton University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude.

Hannah Flom is the Director of Digital Strategy at Democracy Forward.

Hannah joined Democracy Forward following her time on the Harris-Walz campaign as the Digital Director to Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz. Previously, she served in the Biden-Harris Administration as a Senior Advisor and Chief Content Officer at the U.S. Department of State, leading creative content and digital communications to advance American diplomacy and educate global audiences on U.S. foreign policy. Hannah has over a decade of experience crafting and executing public affairs campaigns for government and political organizations.

She holds a B.A. in political communication from The George Washington University, and currently resides in Washington, DC.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Rachel was a Clinical Fellow and Staff Attorney with the Civil Litigation Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center, where she was lead counsel on APA, FOIA, and other public interest cases. Rachel has argued motions and appeals in state and federal courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before joining the Clinic, she was an associate at Covington & Burling, LLP, where she practiced insurance litigation and maintained an active pro bono practice.

Rachel clerked for Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont and Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Rachel graduated from Yale Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities.

Rachel is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars.

Kevin Friedl is a Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward, he was a senior litigator at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he handled some of the agency’s highest-profile cases, including two separate constitutional challenges to the agency that were eventually resolved by the Supreme Court. Other work included litigating high-stakes appeals involving novel questions about the CFPB’s authority, defending consumer-protection regulations from industry legal challenges, and helping lead the agency’s amicus program. Kevin represented the CFPB in nearly every stage of litigation, at every level of the federal judiciary, and in courthouses from San Francisco to Boston and from Fargo to McAllen, Texas.

Kevin clerked for Judge David F. Hamilton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Before law school, he worked as a journalist in New York and Washington, D.C., primarily covering politics and the economy. He attended New York University School of Law and the University of Chicago.

Shelley Friedland is a Senior Legal Assistant and Legal Support Coordinator at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Shelley was a paralegal at Harmon, Curran, Spielberg, & Eisenberg, LLP, where she assisted attorneys in incorporating nonprofit organizations and guided nonprofit clients through the federal and state tax exemption application processes.

Shelley received her B.A in Political Science from The George Washington University. She is passionate about the intersection of the law, justice, and nonprofit landscape and hopes to pursue a J.D.

Emily Froude is a research assistant at Democracy Forward. She previously worked as a senior legal assistant. Prior to joining DF, Emily was a senior paralegal at the Amica Center (formerly Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition). In that role, she screened unaccompanied immigrant children for visas and assisted attorneys in representing the kids in court and with US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Emily holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies and political science from Miami University and a master of international affairs degree with concentrations in democracy studies and international security from George Washington University. She is fluent in Spanish.

Aman George is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward. His work has included challenges to environmental protection rollbacks, weakening of the Affordable Care Act, and inadequate transparency into the White House’s national security authorities.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Aman was a white collar investigations associate at Covington & Burling. His time at Covington also included pro bono work on capital defense and redistricting matters, as well as civil litigation related to insurance, trade, and patent disputes. Prior to law school, Aman was a business analyst at McKinsey & Company for three years.

Aman is a native of northern Virginia, who holds a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School and a B.A. in Government and Foreign Affairs and Economics from the University of Virginia.

Aleshadye (El-shuh-dye) Getachew is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward, Aleshadye practiced at Children’s Rights in New York, where she investigated and litigated federal class actions on behalf of youth seeking structural reform of state systems. Prior to joining Children’s Rights, Aleshadye litigated complex civil cases and jury trials across the country at Wilkinson Stekloff, a boutique trial firm.  

Aleshadye graduated from Georgetown University Law Center cum laude, where she received the Outstanding Student Advocate award for her clinic work on behalf of unhoused communities. She earned her B.S. from Cornell University, and served as a middle school English teacher in Louisiana before going to law school. 

Aleshadye is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars.

Bradley Girard is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Throughout his career as an impact litigator, Bradley has focused on issues of constitutional law, civil rights, employment discrimination, qualified immunity, and consumer protection, among others. He has practiced in all levels of state and federal courts, with a focus on the federal courts of appeals and U.S. Supreme Court.  

After graduating from Georgetown Law, Bradley clerked for the Honorable Neal E. Kravitz on the D.C. Superior Court and on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit for the Honorable Martha Craig Daughtrey. Bradley also served for two years as the clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown Law’s Appellate Courts Immersion Clinic, where he taught students public-interest impact litigation in the federal courts of appeals and the U.S Supreme Court and earned an LLM in advocacy. Bradley was a constitutional litigation fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, where he later returned as Litigation Counsel, litigating cutting-edge First Amendment cases across the country as well as founding and co-directing the Legal Academy. During law school, Bradley worked at Gupta Wessler, Public Justice, Mehri & Skalet, and in the civil-rights division of the Institute for Public Representation. He also interned on the D.C. district court, in the chambers of the Honorable Gladys Kessler.

Bradley served as a 2023-24 Georgetown Law Blume Public Interest Leader in Residence and is serving as a 2024-25 Harvard Law School Wasserstein Fellow. He is on the Advisory Board of the People’s Parity Project. And he is a college and career mentor to students in Baltimore City public high schools.

Bradley’s writing has appeared in a variety of legal publications, including the Georgetown Law Journal, the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy, Law360, and SCOTUSblog. He enjoys arguing for hyphenation of phrasal adjectives and against two spaces after a period. Bradley’s non-law interests include woodworking, collecting vinyl (and DJing), crossword puzzles, the cosmos, and jumping off of things into water.

Bradley is a member of the District of Columbia and New York Bars.

Maddy Gitomer is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward, Maddy was a member of the Privacy and Cybersecurity practice at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., where she focused on health privacy law, including regulatory counseling. Maddy also maintained a robust pro bono practice focused on protecting reproductive rights, defending against LGBTQ+ discrimination, and expanding access to health care. Earlier in her career, Maddy served as one of Senator Dodd’s professional staff members on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s Subcommittee on Children and Families. There she helped pass the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and served as Chairman Dodd’s lead education policy staff member in the negotiation of The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.

Maddy holds a J.D. from The University of Pennsylvania Law School, a master’s degree in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, and a B.A. from American University. While in law school, Maddy received the Edward C. Baker Award for the student with the most pro bono hours in her graduating class and the Penn Law Pro Bono Award for her leadership of the Custody and Support Assistance Clinic. Maddy was also named one of the Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association.

Maddy is a member of the New Jersey, Maryland, and District of Columbia Bars.

Sarah Goetz is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Sarah was a Madison Legal Fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, where she litigated constitutional and other religion-based cases. At Americans United, Sarah authored numerous trial and appellate briefs in federal and state courts across the country. Before that, she was a legal fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, where she litigated settlement enforcement actions concerning conditions of confinement.

Sarah clerked for Magistrate Judge Stephan M. Vidmar of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. She graduated summa cum laude from American University Washington College of Law, where she was a Public Interest/Public Service Scholar. During law school, Sarah was a member of law review and a student-attorney in the criminal defense clinic. She graduated with honors from Vassar College, where she earned a B.A. in English.

Sarah is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars.

Kaitlyn Golden is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward, Kaitlyn was a litigator at Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., where she handled complex civil matters at all stages of a litigation. For two years, Kaitlyn also served as the full-time senior associate in charge of U.S. Pro Bono, managing the firm’s pro bono practice and litigating gender justice and civil rights matters.

Prior to her legal career, Kaitlyn served as a Press Assistant to U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and as a Communications Coordinator at the Brooking Institution. Kaitlyn holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Ithaca College.

Kaitlyn is a member of the Washington and District of Columbia Bars.

Elena Goldstein is a Legal Director at Democracy Forward. 

Elena served most recently as the Deputy Solicitor of Labor in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).  As the Deputy Solicitor of Labor, Elena helped to lead DOL’s 650-person legal office, overseeing numerous litigation, regulatory, and policy matters relating to the rights of workers, job-seekers, and retirees in the United States. 

Immediately prior to serving as the Deputy Solicitor of Labor, Goldstein served as Deputy Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau in the New York State Office of the Attorney General, where she was a lead counsel in numerous cases challenging federal executive and agency actions in the forty-fifth Presidential administration and supervised a wide range of civil rights matters. 

Elena’s career also includes nine years as a senior trial attorney in DOL’s Office of the Solicitor, litigating cases involving minimum wage and overtime laws, workplace safety, whistle-blower statutes, and a variety of other labor and employment laws. Earlier in her career, she worked as a Skadden Fellow and senior staff attorney at the New York Legal Assistance Group, where she helped to start a workers’ rights project focusing on the rights of low-wage and immigrant workers, and as third grade teacher at Public School 152 in New York City.

Elena served as a law clerk for the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff in the Southern District of New York and the Honorable Robert A. Katzmann on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.  She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Michigan and is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School. Elena is currently licensed to practice in New York. Her license in Washington D.C. is pending.

David Graham-Caso is the Associate Director of Communications for Democracy Forward.

David joins Democracy Forward after having been on the forefront of some exciting and important recent progressive efforts. He led the Sierra Club’s communications work in the Western US to stop new coal-fired power plants from being permitted and to replace those still running with clean energy; he served as the point-person for the LA City Councilmember leading the way toward a $15 minimum wage and the spokesperson for the Councilmember during contentious and crucial debates about how to end homelessness in Los Angeles. David has also led campaigns, including the multimillion dollar effort to defeat Proposition 23 on the 2010 California ballot, as well as the successful underdog campaign to elect the first openly LGBT candidate to citywide office in the history of Los Angeles. Immediately prior to joining Democracy Forward, David served as the Communications Director for the Senate campaign of progressive icon, Representative Barbara Lee.

David grew up in Southern California as the child of public school teachers and union advocates and is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles.

Yomarilis Gueits Rodriguez is a Democracy 2025 Associate at Democracy Forward.

Before joining the organization, Yomarilis served as a Fulbright researcher at the University of Regina, where she focused on bibliographical research related to reconciliation efforts. She also gained legislative experience as an intern for the Democratic Caucus and former Minority Leader Representative Joanna McClinton at the Pennsylvania Capitol. Additionally, Yomarilis worked as a translator and interpreter in immigration and naturalization cases, as well as at local town halls, during her internship with the CLA Translation Institute at Temple University.

Yomarilis holds a dual bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Philosophy, with a minor in Women and Gender Studies, from Temple University. She plans to pursue advanced studies in the future. 

Tyler is a Graphic Designer at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Tyler served as the Senior Graphic Designer at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2022 and 2024 election cycles, supporting campaigns across the country. Tyler has nearly a decade of experience designing effective and engaging content with organizations in the DC area.

Tyler earned his B.A. in Mass Communication from Towson University.

Rachel Hayden is a Senior Advisor to the President at Democracy Forward.

Rachel has more than two decades of experience supporting executives and organizations in their growth, evolution, and pursuit of excellence.  She has successfully led marketing and public relations teams across a range of industries, launching luxury brands, creating national and international events, partnerships and collaborations, and other strategic projects. Her experience includes nearly two decades as Director of Public Relations and Marketing at the world-class, Michelin Three Star Inn at Little Washington. As Director of Marketing at Linder Global Events, Rachel oversaw a broad portfolio of engagements and public relations for the company and its large nonprofit and Fortune 100 clients, while also supporting the organization’s CEO in business expansion, relationship management and public appearances.

She has crafted and supported fundraising efforts to benefit numerous nonprofits including YouthAIDS, Share Our Strength, HRC, Chefs for Equality, the Washington Ballet, and World Central Kitchen.

Darcey Hayes is the Director of Finance at Democracy Forward.

She joined Democracy Forward in 2025 after more than 20 years in the for-profit sector, where she worked with large corporations such as Starbucks and Capital One, as well as emerging startups. She has extensive experience in financial planning, analytics, process improvement, and internal controls.

In 2024, Darcey transitioned to mission-driven work as a Senior Budget Advisor for the Harris-Walz campaign, where she combined her financial expertise with her passion for public service. At Democracy Forward, she oversees financial operations, ensuring efficiency and compliance to support the organization’s mission.

Darcey holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). She lives with her family in Richmond, VA.

Hanna Hickman is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Hanna was a senior enforcement attorney at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she investigated and litigated violations of the Consumer Financial Protection Act and other federal consumer financial protection laws. Prior to that, she practiced in the Public Client Practice Group at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, where she represented states and municipalities in complex consumer and Medicaid fraud investigations and enforcement actions and co-chaired the firm’s Hiring & Diversity Committee. Hanna also previously practiced at an Am Law 100 law firm, and she served for a decade as an adjunct faculty member at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Hanna clerked for Judge James I. Cohn of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She received her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center and her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently studying towards an MSt in AI Ethics and Society at the University of Cambridge.

Hanna is a member of the District of Columbia and Florida (inactive) bars.

Rachel Homer is the Director of Democracy 2025 & Senior Attorney at Democracy Forward. 

She joins Democracy Forward after serving most recently as the Chief of Staff of the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Education, where she helped lead the 120-person legal office, overseeing numerous legal matters, including advising on litigation, regulatory matters, and policy issues. She previously worked as Counsel at Protect Democracy, focusing on litigating civil rights cases, especially cases challenging voter intimidation, and advising on numerous related issues involving voting rights, abuses of power, and other democracy issues. She also previously served as a litigator at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Appellate Staff. Earlier in her career, she worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human services implementing the Affordable Care Act. 

She clerked for Chief Judge Diane P. Wood on the 7th Circuit and for Judge John D. Bates on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She graduated from Harvard Law School, where she served on the Harvard Law Review, and from Yale College. She is a member of Massachusetts and DC bars.

Jennifer Horowitz is a Research Analyst at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Jennifer worked as a paralegal in Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC’s Consumer Protection practice group for over four years. While there, she worked with attorneys to achieve justice for consumers in cases against large corporations committing corporate malfeasance. She has experience working on complex multi-state class actions involving data privacy, consumer fraud, and product liability.

After graduating cum laude from William & Mary with a bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Psychology, Jennifer spent the first year of her career working at a middle school in Washington D.C through AmeriCorps. She resides in Virginia with her girlfriend and in her free time, she enjoys playing board games, crafting, and cheering on the Washington Mystics and the Washington Spirit.  

Tsuki Hoshijima is a Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward, Tsuki was a Senior Attorney for Litigation Policy and Strategy in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. Tsuki focused on litigating high-profile appellate challenges to regulations issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including greenhouse gas and power plant regulations. He also advised on cross-cutting legal and strategic issues.

Tsuki also served as an Attorney-Adviser in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, where he advised the White House and a variety of Executive Branch agencies on a wide range of legal issues.

Tsuki clerked for Judge Sandra L. Lynch on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and Judge Patti B. Saris on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Tsuki graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an Executive Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He holds a B.A. magna cum laude from Yale.

Lydia Hubert-Peterson is a Research Analyst at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward in 2023, Lydia served as the Executive Assistant to the CEO of the National Audubon Society. In this role she supported crucial conservation efforts across the hemisphere.

Originally from the state of Minnesota, Lydia worked for U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar in multiple capacities. Originally interning in her Minneapolis office and on her 2018 reelection campaign. In February 2021, Lydia joined the Senator’s Presidential Campaign where she traveled the country as a National Advance Organizer. After the Senator’s campaign ended, Lydia joined the Senator’s official office in D.C. where she served as a Staff Assistant and as the Senator’s Special Assistant.

Lydia received her B.A. in Political Science and Global Studies from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Keonnie Igwe is an Education Research Analyst at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Keonnie worked at Griffin & Strong, P.C. managing disparity studies and supporting other research projects on actualizing racial and gender equity in school districts, counties, and states across the country. She has also worked for the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice and the Southern Education Foundation partnering with local stakeholders and using research to advocate for educational equity for marginalized children.

After earning her B.S. in psychology at Georgia Southern University, Keonnie spent the first years of her career teaching middle and high school English in Louisiana. She resides in Atlanta where she uses her free time to write about the intersection of race, faith and politics and play tabletop Magic the Gathering.

Cecilia Jacobsen is Director of People, Culture, and Operations at Democracy Forward.

Cecilia joined Democracy Forward in 2023 with more than 17 years experience in the public and private sector as a people and program leader.  She brings strategic and analytical thinking as well as a robust background in project management, resource allocation, and organizational development and training.  Most recently, Cecilia spent 5 years with a global technology company, serving as Chief of Staff & Senior Adviser for HR Strategy to the Chief of People and Culture, developing cross-functional programs to support the employee base and achieve business objectives. Prior to her corporate experience, she worked as a civil servant in the US Government, including serving in President Barack Obama’s White House. 

Corenza Jean is a Legal Analyst at Democracy Forward.

Prior to Democracy Forward, Corenza has a background in public interest law, having earned her J.D. from Howard University School of Law. Following law school, Corenza served as an Honors Attorney with the U.S. Department of Transportation. Corenza’s experience also includes clerkships with the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility.

Priyanka John is a Senior Legal Assistant at Democracy Forward. Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Priyanka completed an internship with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration under the Department of Transportation, where she helped to enforce federal regulations in consumer and business disputes and facilitated the revision of federal documents about consumer rights and protections. Priyanka received her B.A. in Community and Global Public Health from the University of Michigan, and hopes to pursue a J.D. sometime in the future.

Kalli Joslin is a Legal Analyst at Democracy Forward. 

Before this role, she was the Steven Gey Constitutional Litigation Fellow at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, where she represented clients challenging state abortion restrictions and the approval of the nation’s first religious public charter school and submitted several amicus briefs addressing LGBTQ+ discrimination. While at Georgetown University Law Center, she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, a student-attorney in the Civil Rights Clinic, and an intern with Lambda Legal and ACLU National. She received her B.A. with honors in American Studies and Dramaturgy from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. She generally spends her free time engaged in various forms of fiber art. She is a member of the D.C. Bar. 

Olivia King  is a Legal Assistant at Democracy Forward.

Prior to becoming a Legal Assistant, Olivia was a Data Analyst at Democracy Forward. She received her B.A. in Anthropology and Political Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she also served on the Dean’s Student Advisory Council and conducted research on Solidarity Economic Reform for the Center for Economic Democracy.

Olivia has previously interned with the American Society of Association Executives to support tax and education equity bills and has also helped manage a county-wide election for her hometown. She is currently studying for the LSAT and looks forward to pursuing futures that intersect human rights and law.”

Jessica Lee is a Legal Assistant at Democracy Forward. 

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Jessica was an associate at a government consulting firm, assisting a federal agency in the strategic implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Jessica received her B.A. from Princeton University, where she majored in History and participated in student advocacy initiatives related to reproductive justice, expungement education, and drug policy reform. Jessica is incredibly passionate about the intersections of civil rights and public health, and intends on attending law school in the future. 

Emma Leibowitz is a Legal Fellow, co-sponsored by Harvard Law School, at Democracy Forward.

Emma graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2023. While at Harvard, Emma served as a Solicited Content Editor for the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and was a member of the school’s chapter of People’s Parity Project. She worked as a student-attorney in the Veterans Law and Disability Benefits Clinic and as an extern in the office of Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta at the Department of Justice. She also was a Teaching Fellow for Constitutional Law. During her summers, she worked on immigration direct services and in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. 

Before law school, Emma spent two years on the legal team at the Obama Foundation and a year as a paralegal at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, where she supported women and children seeking asylum. Originally from the DC-area, Emma graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in History.  

Cynthia Liao is a Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Cynthia Liao joins Democracy Forward after most recently serving as a Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch, where she litigated high-stakes challenges to federal regulations and enforcement actions in district courts across the country, including numerous cases involving structural constitutional challenges to federal agencies’ authority. Before that, she worked at the U.S. Department of Labor for 7 years, most recently as a senior counsel to the Solicitor of Labor. Her portfolio included constitutional and administrative law issues affecting DOL programs, DOL’s Supreme Court and amicus docket, and workers’ compensation, among others.

Cynthia clerked for Judge David O. Carter of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and Judge Michael D. Hawkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She graduated from Yale Law School and Stanford University.

Michael (Mike) Ceja Martinez is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Mike has extensive Government experience in both the career and political civil service, in addition to his litigation experience in private practice. He served most recently as the Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Mike helped lead the Office of the General Counsel and provided policy leadership on dozens of regulations impacting the 2.3 million Federal civil servants in close coordination with OPM leadership, the White House, and the Office of Management and Budget. Mike was central in the administration’s efforts to protect the civil service and merit system principles from politicization. He was also selected to the President’s Leadership Workshop, a White House program to develop and deepen the management and executive experience of senior political appointees.

Immediately prior to his position at OPM, Mike served as Chief of Staff and Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General at U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, where he assisted the Assistant Attorney General with managing the Division and its 600 employees. He worked closely with the Offices of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and Associate Attorney General on matters important to the Division, including the creation and rollout of DOJ’s inaugural Office of Environmental Justice.

Mike formerly served as a DOJ trial attorney and as a litigator at Steptoe & Johnson LLP. He clerked for the Honorable S. James Otero on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the Honorable Philip R. Martinez on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. He holds a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Senior Editor on the Columbia Law Review and President of the Latino/a Law Students Association, and a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Stanford University. Mike is currently licensed to practice in Washington, D.C. and California.

Joel McElvain is Senior Legal Advisor at Democracy Forward.

Joel served until January 2025 with the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As an acting Deputy General Counsel, he was responsible for legal advice on all matters involving the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, including the Medicare and Medicaid statutes and the Affordable Care Act. He also served as a Special Counsel in OGC with responsibility for coordinating legal advice concerning the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program established by the Inflation Reduction Act. Mr. McElvain previously served as an assistant director in the Federal Programs Branch of the Department of Justice, with responsibility for HHS litigation matters. While at the Department of Justice, he participated in the government’s defense of the Affordable Care Act in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012) and King v. Burwell (2015), and received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the Department’s highest honor.

Mr. McElvain is a magna cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School and a magna cum laude graduate of Williams College.

Dan McGrath is Senior Oversight Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Dan most recently served as a senior counsel in the Office of the Solicitor in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).  Dan coordinated DOL’s responses to congressional oversight requests and subpoenas, and served as front office counsel for several program and issue areas, including unemployment insurance, recent administrative law decisions, and immigration-related matters. Prior to DOL, he served as a counsel on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis led by Rep. Jim Clyburn. Dan led oversight investigations of economic programs implemented to address the pandemic’s fallout and private sector actors’ conduct during the crisis. He earlier served as lead counsel for federal investigations at American Oversight, where he litigated public records cases to advance investigations of government malfeasance.  

Dan started his legal career as a litigation associate at the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and previously taught high school social studies at St. Francis Indian School on Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. He received his law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School and his undergraduate degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University.

Nikki McKinney is the Policy Director at Democracy Forward.

Nikki has worked for nearly two decades on the Hill and in the Executive Branch. She joins Democracy Forward after serving four years as Associate Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor. Before joining the Biden-Harris Administration, she was Labor Policy Director on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension for Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA).

She is a teacher by training, having taught high school social studies in public schools in Delaware and Virginia. Her first job after leaving the classroom was as a Legislative Assistant for Senator Susan M. Collins, where she handled Education, Labor, and Native American Affairs for the Maine Republican. 

She joined the Obama Administration’s Labor Department’s Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs in 2010, eventually working her way up to Deputy Assistant Secretary.

She returned to a focus on education policy in January 2017 and joined a small DC-based nonprofit, the Alliance for Excellent Education, as Director of Policy Development and Federal Government Relations, until returning to the Hill and working on the HELP Committee in 2018.

Nikki earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science Education from the University of Delaware and a Master of Arts in Education Policy Studies from the George Washington University. She lives in Virginia with her daughter, Paisley.

Brooke Menschel is a Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Brooke joined Democracy Forward from Brooklyn Defender Services, where she served as the Director of Civil Rights and Law Reform. In that role, she worked to address systemic deficiencies in New York City’s Department of Correction and family, immigration, and criminal courts. Prior to joining BDS, Brooke litigated state and federal trial and appellate cases concerning children’s rights, juvenile justice, the criminal legal system, and mass incarceration in the Deep South at the Southern Poverty Law Center and in New York at the local affiliate of the ACLU.

Before going to law school, Brooke worked as a policy and legislative advocate on human and civil rights issues in Washington, D.C. for the American Jewish Committee, and as communications strategist at the Anti-Defamation League in Boston.

Brooke received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and her B.A. from Tufts University. She is a member of the bar in Washington, D.C. and New York.

Daniel Miller is Senior Advisor for Democracy 2025 at Democracy Forward. Since joining Democracy Forward, he has helped lead efforts to expose Project 2025 and stand up Democracy 2025, the strategic hub to protect people and their rights should the Trump-Vance administration seek to unlawfully strip away freedoms and prosperity.

Daniel has a range of experience advocating for and defending democracy. He founded and organized the Society for Constitutional Protection for this purpose in New York. And immediately before joining Democracy Forward, he served as the Director of Content and Strategy at the Renew Democracy Initiative. His writings have appeared in the Washington Post, CNN, the Daily Beast, and others.

Originally from Washington, D.C., Daniel has a Bachelor of Arts in Astrophysics from Princeton University, and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. After law school, he clerked for a federal judge. Daniel is a member of the New York Bar.

Kayla Minton Kaufman (she/they) is a Legal Fellow, co-sponsored by Georgetown University Law Center, at Democracy Forward.

Kayla graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 2024, receiving the Lorri L. Jean Award for Excellence in LGBTQ Leadership & Advocacy, Associate Dean’s Award for Excellence in Clinic, and Special Pro Bono Pledge recognition. While at Georgetown, Kayla served as an Administrative Editor for the Georgetown Environmental Law Review and as Co-President for both OutLaw (LGBTQ+ Affinity Group) and Jewish Students for Justice. During her semesters, she worked as a student-attorney in Georgetown’s Appellate Litigation Clinic, a research assistant for Georgetown Climate Center and Professors Kevin Tobia and Brian Wolfman, an extern for Earthjustice and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and a Pilates instructor at the law school’s gym. During her summers, she worked at ACLU National and the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project.

Before law school, Kayla worked professionally in theater as a director, producer, educator, and artistic administrator, including working at American Conservatory Theater and Santa Cruz Shakespeare in California, the National Women’s Theater Festival in North Carolina, and Portland Stage Company in Maine. Originally from California, Kayla graduated from Loyola Marymount University with B.A.s in both Theater Arts and Film and Television Production. She remains an enjoyer of many artistic hobbies as well as a nature enthusiast.

Gracia Mirindi is a People and Culture Associate at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Gracia was a Legal Assistant at Fellow LaBriola, LLP, in Atlanta GA where she assisted attorneys and legal staff members in criminal cases, civil litigation, and insurance recovery. She also worked as an Underwriting Assistant for Beazley Group in Atlanta GA.

Gracia received her B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in Pre-Law from Georgia State University. She also received her M.S. in Criminal Justice concentrating in Law and Public Policy from Walden University. 

Khira Mistry is the Director of Scheduling and Executive Assistant to the President and CEO.

Khira served as a political appointee for the Biden-Harris Administration, working as Special Assistant and Paralegal to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. Khira addressed a wide range of issues including immigration, national security, gun reform, and reproductive health access.

Prior to working at the Department of Justice, Khira gained invaluable experience in the nonprofit sector, including roles at Reproductive Freedom For All and Protect Our Defenders, where she supported legislative advocacy efforts and campaign work aimed at advancing reproductive rights and sexual assault protections in the military. Khira received her B.A. in Political Science and History from California State University, Fullerton.

Sterling Moore is Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Sterling comes to Democracy Forward with a background in law, having received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. There, he served on the Virginia Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. Following law school, he worked as a litigator in private practice and clerked for the Honorable Andrew J. Kleinfeld of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Originally from Texas, Sterling holds a B.B.A. in Economics and Business Fellows from Baylor University. Before attending law school, he served as a scholarship program coordinator at a community nonprofit in Waco, TX.

Sterling is a member of the District of Columbia and Texas Bars.

Jodie Morse is the Chief Program and Strategy Officer at Democracy Forward.

Jodie is a litigator and strategic advisor with experience in all three branches of government, private practice, and the non-profit world. She most recently served as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Department of Justice, where she helped to oversee the Civil Division, the Office of Information Policy, and the Tax Division and also served as the Executive Director of the Reproductive Rights Task Force, where she lead day-to-day the Department’s work to safeguard reproductive freedoms under federal law following the Dobbs decision.

Immediately prior to the Department of Justice, Jodie worked at the White House and the Office of Management and Budget. A founding member of the Democracy Forward litigation team, Jodie also previously served as Deputy General Counsel in the Office of General Counsel in the U.S. House of Representatives and worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and at a global law firm.

Jodie received her J.D. magna cum laude from New York University School of Law and her B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University and served as a law clerk for Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the Eastern District of New York.

Jessica Morton is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward, where she has represented non-profits and individuals in both litigation and regulatory advocacy.  Her work has included challenges to abuses of executive power at the state level, advocacy for federal criminal legal system reform, environmental justice, and other issues.

Before joining Democracy Forward, she was a litigator at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where she practiced complex civil litigation at all three levels of the federal court system.  Jessica also maintained a significant pro bono practice focused on voting rights, civil rights, and criminal justice.  She has been honored as a co-recipient of the Young Lawyer of the Year Award from the Young Lawyers Section of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.  Jessica has also served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Jessica clerked for the Honorable John D. Bates of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the Honorable Albert Diaz of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  Jessica graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where she served as Executive Articles Editor of the Michigan Law Review.  She also holds an M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan and a B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame.

Jessica is a member of the District of Columbia and Illinois bars.

Sarah Myhre is the Director of Partnerships at Democracy Forward. She is a philanthropic strategist and organizational leader, with a background in climate science and environmental justice. She brings a unique set of technical, communicative, and executive skills to bear in her career as a public servant. Her work has previously included philanthropic leadership in the field of climate accountability and litigation.

Dr. Myhre received a Ph.D. from the University of California at Davis and is a Kavli Fellow with the National Academy of Sciences. She has served on the board of directors of several organizations, including FutureWise Washington and ReclaimingSTEM Institute.

Brian Netter is a Legal Director at Democracy Forward.

He joined Democracy Forward after serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.  In that role, he oversaw the Federal Programs Branch, which represents nearly the entire Executive Branch in civil litigation in federal district courts, in cases presenting significant issues of constitutional, statutory, and regulatory law.  Brian personally handled particularly sensitive matters, advancing the Administration’s positions on reproductive rights, student loan relief, the response to the pandemic, executive privilege, and Medicare drug-price negotiations.

Prior to his government service, Brian was a partner at Mayer Brown LLP, splitting his time between the firm’s Supreme Court and appellate litigation and ERISA litigation practices.  Brian’s clients included major universities, corporations, individuals, and government bodies. Brian received his B.S.E. and M.S.E. in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan, his J.D. from Yale Law School, and subsequently served as a law clerk to Judge Judith W. Rogers (D.C. Cir.) and Justice Stephen G. Breyer.

Lisa Newman is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Lisa previously served as a trial attorney for the Federal Programs Branch at the United States Department of Justice. As a trial attorney, Lisa litigated high-profile constitutional and administrative law challenges to federal statutes, executive orders, and other government programs and agency actions across a wide range of federal laws, including reproductive healthcare, national security, controlled substances, religious freedom, telecommunications, and data security.

Lisa also served as a member of DOJ’s Reproductive Rights Team where she developed litigation strategy, before and after Dobbs, to protect and expand access to reproductive healthcare under federal law. This work included the United States’ lawsuit against Texas to enjoin the State’s unprecedented pre-Dobbs abortion ban, and a lawsuit to enjoin Idaho’s abortion ban to allow women to access health-and life-preserving abortion care. For this work, Lisa received the Special Commendation to the Post-Dobbs Reproductive Freedom Team for Outstanding Service to the Civil Division.

Prior to DOJ, Lisa clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division.

Lisa holds a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law, and a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.

Hannah Niles is an Executive Coordinator at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward, Hannah served as the Executive Coordinator to the President of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. During her time at CAP she supported cross-organizational efforts to build bold, progressive ideas to improve the lives of all Americans. She contributed to the operational management of the policy and advocacy departments and acted as project coordinator on collaborative efforts to promote institutional priorities. 

Hannah received her B.A in Business Administration with a concentration in management from Loyola University Maryland. She will graduate in the Fall of 2024 from Mount St. Mary’s University with an MBA and certificate in project management.

Victoria (Tory) Nugent is Director for State Litigation and Emerging Issues at Democracy Forward. Prior to coming to Democracy Forward, Ms. Nugent was a Partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, one of the nation’s foremost class action firms. While there, she served as Co-Chair of the firm’s Consumer Practice Group (2021-2023) and Public Client Practice Group (2017-2020) and served on the firm’s Executive Committee (2020 – 2022). During her years at Cohen Milstein, she was a highly regarded consumer protection litigator and oversaw significant consumer fraud investigations and litigation on behalf of the state Attorneys General of Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, and Vermont, as well as class actions brought on behalf of consumers, borrowers, farmers, and small business owners under the laws of numerous states.

Prior to joining Cohen Milstein worked at Public Citizen for seven years and was a law fellow
sponsored by the National Association for Public Interest Law (NAPIL/Equal Justice Works) at
Public Justice.

Since 2018, Ms. Nugent has been a member of Public Justice Foundation’s Board of Directors. She served on the D.C. Bar Committee on the Rules of Professional Conduct from 2012 to 2019 and since 2019, she has been a member of the Bar’s Legal Ethics Committee. In 2022, she was elected to the membership of the American Law Institute. Ms. Nugent received her B.A. from Wesleyan University and her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Katie O’Connell is Democracy Forward’s Senior Advisor.

Katie is passionate about supporting change-making individuals and organizations and brings to her role at Democracy Forward more than 20 years experience leading partnerships, development, and fundraising teams.

Beth Olson is Manager, Together for Democracy and State Engagement at Democracy Forward.

Beth Olson is a proud Texan who has devoted her career to advocating for women and children. Drawing on her background in health policy and community engagement, she has led numerous initiatives designed to engage public and private sector leaders on public health issues. 

Most recently, Beth led efforts to improve reproductive health access in Central Texas by examining the impact of state laws on local providers and patients and guided school districts through the implementation of new state sex education standards. 

Prior to that, Beth led a statewide child hunger program for the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty where she worked to streamline the implementation of federal child nutrition programs by improving communication between government agencies. Beth is also a former board member and interim Executive Director of the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy and managed health policy in the Texas House of Representatives for several years.

Beth is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and lives in Waco, Texas. On the rare occasion they have some free time, she and her kids enjoy relaxing at their family ranch with their loyal Boykin Spaniel.

Gilbert Orbea is a Legal Analyst at Democracy Forward.

He began his legal career at Democracy Forward in 2019 as a Legal Assistant and briefly returned in 2023 as an independent legal researcher. Prior to rejoining the organization full-time, he was an Associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where he focused on government investigations and complex litigation. He is admitted to the D.C. Bar and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Gilbert earned his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he contributed to the Yale Law and Policy Review and completed internships with the Constitutional Accountability Center and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Regulation. He received scholarships from the Cuban American Bar Association and the New Jersey Hispanic Bar Association in recognition of his academic achievement. His areas of interest include administrative law, constitutional law, and the evolving role of the courts in upholding democratic governance. Gilbert holds a B.A. with high honors in Political Science and Economics from Swarthmore College, where he co-authored “Justice Neil Gorsuch Joins the Court” with Dr. Carol Nackenoff, published in SCOTUS 2018: Major Decisions and Developments of the Supreme Court.

Megha Patel is the Senior Policy Manager at Democracy Forward.

Megha joined Democracy Forward with over four years of legislative and political experience. Previously, she served as the Government Affairs Manager at the Forging Industry Association for two years. There, she was pivotal in developing and implementing the organization’s advocacy strategy across federal, state, and local levels, addressing key issues like energy, education, and workforce development. Megha’s professional background spans both public and private sectors, where she has held various positions.

She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Leadership in Organizations from Michigan State University and currently resides in Washington, D.C.

Melissa Pearson is the HR Generalist for Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Melissa served as Senior HR Manager at Community Sponsorship Hub, where she developed the HR infrastructure and scaled recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and the overall employee experience. Prior to that, she has also worked on the HR teams at Bonfire, Polaris Project, and Overtime where she managed HR information systems, payroll, benefits, and culture initiatives.

She received her M.A. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Brooklyn College. With extensive experience in Human Resources across mission-driven organizations and startups, Melissa is committed to creating inclusive work environments, promoting employee engagement, and optimizing HR processes to drive organizational success.

Adnan Perwez is a Legal Fellow, co-sponsored by Berkeley Law, at Democracy Forward. 

Adnan graduated from Berkeley Law in 2024. During law school, he was an Articles & Essays Editor for the California Law Review, worked at the Policy Advocacy Clinic doing juvenile bail reform work in Mississippi, and was part of the Police Review Project and the Palestine Advocacy Legal Assistance Project. He also was part of the Ninth Circuit Practicum, where he argued and won a unanimous verdict on an appellate immigration case in front of a Ninth Circuit panel.  

Adnan spent his 1L summer externing for the Chambers of the Hon. Chief Judge Miranda M. Du in the District of Nevada, and his 2L summer working for the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology (SPT) Project, where he did First Amendment work. 

Before law school, Adnan was a community organizer with the American Muslim community, where he helped strategize and build coalitions against Obama-era domestic surveillance programs like CVE, as well as Trump-era policies like the Muslim Ban. He received his Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School in 2021, and his B.A. with high honors in Political Science, History, and Religious Studies from U.C. Davis in 2019. He is originally from the Bay Area. 

Sarah M. Rich is Senior Attorney, Democracy 2025 at Democracy Forward.

Sarah came to Democracy Forward in 2024 following a decade at the Southern Poverty Law Center, where she represented mainly noncitizen clients in litigation on workers’ rights, asylum, detention, access to counsel, and the entanglement of local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement. She also worked as a policy analyst and advocate on local, state, and federal immigration issues, and developed expertise on the far-right’s anti-immigrant narratives and networks. Prior to SPLC, Sarah spent two years at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in El Paso, where she represented farmworkers, trafficking victims, and other indigent clients in West Texas and southern New Mexico. Sarah also clerked for the Hon. Richard A. Paez on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Sarah completed her law degree at U.C. Berkeley School of Law and received a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She received her B.A. in International Relations and French from Scripps College. Between college and graduate school, Sarah served for two years in the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa, working primarily on infant and maternal health projects.

Sarah is a member of the Georgia, Texas, and California bars.

Cortney Robinson Henderson is Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward, Cortney served as a trial attorney in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. At DOJ, she managed complex civil litigation and bankruptcy matters on behalf of the federal government, handling all aspects of case strategy, negotiation, and advocacy.

Prior to her government service, Cortney was a litigation associate at Jones Day, where she worked on a range of civil matters and maintained an active pro bono practice focused on housing, probate law, and civil rights matters.

Cortney is a member of the Georgia and DC bars and admitted to practice in numerous federal courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. Cortney also currently serves as a board member of the Council for Court Excellence.

Cortney is a proud graduate of Howard University, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science, summa cum laude. She also holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Emily Ross is Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the President and CEO at Democracy Forward.

Emily comes to Democracy Forward following extensive Executive Branch service as Executive Secretariat at both the Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Emily has spent her career developing, maturing, and transforming critical organizational processes, including many years on Capitol Hill and for a variety of campaigns and organizations.

Emily holds a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts, also from Columbia University.

Kyleigh Russ is the Director of Good Government Initiatives and Senior Advisor of Policy and Program with Democracy Forward. 

Kyleigh joins Democracy Forward from the Federal Office of Personnel Management, where she served as a Senior Advisor to the Acting Director on hiring reform and innovation. Kyleigh Russ brings a wealth of diverse experience in talent innovation at the federal and state levels, talent pipelines cultivation, and collaboration creation across government and nongovernment partners. 

Before joining the federal government, Kyleigh co-founded Govern for America (GFA), a nonprofit created to build the next generation of public servants to establish a more responsive government that better reflects and serves our communities. Her time at GFA and OPM have strengthened in her a core belief: that the strength of our democracy lies in the dedication of those who serve it every day. Civil servants are the backbone of our institutions, and their tireless work is the best way we have to attain a government that keeps its promises and meets the needs of our communities, every day. In joining Democracy Forward, Kyleigh is eager to galvanize the field towards a bold and transformative vision for government and civil service—one that is fully prepared to tackle the challenges of the 21st century and beyond. 

Kyleigh holds an MPA from NYU Wagner and a BA in Government from Harvard University.

Mark Samburg is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Kali Schellenberg serves as Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Kali worked on pro-democracy litigation at Protect Democracy, including helping to develop litigation to address attacks on the civil service. She began her career as an Honors Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she litigated Title VII and USERRA cases in federal court. She then joined Relman Colfax, PLLC, where she litigated complex civil rights cases, including class actions and constitutional claims. At a boutique litigation firm, she handled pro bono challenges involving the First Amendment, due process, and Pennsylvania election law. During her career, Kali has represented clients in federal jury trials and has counseled organizations on a range of legal issues.

Kali clerked for Judge Legrome D. Davis of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She earned her J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School, and her B.A. from Brown University.

Kali is a member of the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts bars.

Ally Scher is Counsel at Democracy Forward. 

Ally previously worked in the Federal Programs Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, where she represented federal agencies in high-profile constitutional and statutory challenges to federal programs and regulations in district courts nationwide.

Prior to DOJ, she worked in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Law & Policy, where she advised the General Counsel and agency components on the CFPB’s authorities and other matters related to administrative law.  She also previously worked as a litigation associate at a law firm in DC.

She clerked for Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and Judge Ana C. Reyes on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.  She graduated from New York University School of Law and Washington University in St. Louis.

Melissa Schwartz is the Chief Public Affairs and Policy Officer at Democracy Forward.

Melissa has spent 25 years at the intersection of communications and public policy, with experience in the federal government, the private sector, and at nonprofit organizations. She spent more than a decade in the federal government, at the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Justice, and in the office of U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski. She served from the first to the last day of the Biden-Harris administration in roles including Senior Counselor to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Chief of Staff to Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis, and as the agency’s Communications Director.

Melissa has specialized expertise in crisis and litigation communications. At the Justice Department during the Obama administration, her portfolio included helping to rebuild the working relationship with the U.S. Attorney community following political firings by the Bush administration. She was then tapped to manage communications and congressional inquiries as Deputy Chief of Staff for the bureau at the Interior Department responsible for the regulation and oversight of offshore drilling in U.S. waters immediately following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. She also served as Chief Operating Officer at The Bromwich Group for almost nine years and managed the firm’s crisis communications practice, where clients included former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Melissa is an Adjunct Faculty member at Johns Hopkins University’s Master of Arts in Communication program and a Senior Affiliate Instructor for the University of Washington’s Communication Leadership graduate program. She earned her M.A. in Political Communications from Johns Hopkins University and B.A. in American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Rob Shriver is the Managing Director of the Civil Service Strong and Good Government Initiatives at Democracy Forward. 

In this role, he leads DF’s efforts to ensure that the Federal government is delivering for all Americans, through a career civil service of experts hired based on their merits.  Prior to joining DF, Rob served as the Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in the Biden-Harris Administration. In this role, Rob was a champion for the Federal workforce and helped to ensure that OPM supported Federal employees from “hire to retire.” His passions include improving government effectiveness and customer service and driving the federal government to be a model employer. 

Rob has a long history of leadership, policy and program development, and operations. Rob was confirmed by the Senate on a bipartisan vote to be OPM’s Deputy Director in December 2022. Rob previously served at OPM during President Obama’s Administration, where he expanded equality for LGBTQ+ federal employees, improved federal labor relations, and implemented major provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Outside of OPM, Rob has worked in state government and private sector IT, and he began his career as a lawyer at the National Treasury Employees Union. 

Rob is a graduate of Virginia Tech and the George Washington University Law School.

James Singer is the Media Relations Director at Democracy Forward.

Singer joins Democracy Forward after overseeing the rapid response operation for the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz presidential campaign. He specialized in executing opposition research and defensive and policy communications responses. James served as a key advisor and member of Vice President Harris’ debate prep team.

James is a skilled political campaign strategist with more than a dozen years of experience working successfully on some of the highest-profile campaigns in America. His work has included three gubernatorial campaigns, three presidential campaigns, and successfully winning dozens of campaigns across America in battleground states and swing districts at the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In addition to numerous political campaigns, he proudly served as a Senior Communication Strategist at USAID during the Biden Administration.

James is a native of San Francisco. He earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Arizona.

Leslie Smith is the Operations Manager at Democracy Forward where she supports the organization’s team of lawyers, communications strategists, policy experts, and leadership in achieving Democracy Forward’s mission. Leslie is committed to ensuring that all members of Democracy Forward’s staff and broader community are provided the tools needed to make an impact and to work in a welcoming and inclusive community.

Leslie has deep experience in supporting mission-based organizations and entities, having worked both in the federal government and non-profit institutions for more than 20 years. She is particularly passionate about finding new ways of building community in the workplace. Leslie enjoys spending time with family, traveling and reading. Leslie currently resides in Maryland with her son and daughter.

Marcus Smith is a Talent Acquisition and Training Manager for Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, he served as Director of Personnel Operations at the White House. In this role, he managed the staffing, onboarding, and employee experience for White House staffers. Prior to the White House, Marcus was on the talent acquisition team at Morning Consult – a data intelligence tech company in Washington, DC. He has also worked as a study abroad program coordinator at American Councils for International Education.

Marcus is passionate about building high-performing workforces for mission-driven organizations, and enjoys being a connector of people and opportunity. He received his B.A. in Political Science from The University of Iowa.

Tai Smith is a Senior Litigation Paralegal at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward, Tai worked as a paralegal at the Alexandria,Virginia, Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney. He has worked as a litigation paralegal for over twenty years and has extensive experience supporting attorneys in significant litigation matters from start to finish. Tai has also served in national and local non-profit arenas as a Board member, community organizer, and Clerk to an Executive School Board.

Tai graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies and an American Bar Association-certified Paralegal Certificate from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. He also received a master’s degree in religion from the Howard University.

Jamie Solomon is a Research Analyst at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Jamie was a Housing Advocate and Paralegal at the Rhode Island Center for Justice, where she helped defend clients facing eviction and supported other impact litigation projects.

Jamie received her B.A. in History with honors from Brown University, where she also did research for the Political Theory Project and the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice.

Hesu Song is a Legal Oversight Assistant at Democracy Forward.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Hesu was an honors paralegal at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he assisted enforcement attorneys in investigating and litigating predatory companies in the financial services industry. He spent a year teaching English at a university in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia through a Princeton in Asia fellowship and interned in the White House’s Office of Presidential Correspondence in the Biden-Harris administration.

Hesu received his B.A. in Political Science and International Studies from Johns Hopkins University. He hopes to build a career focused on promoting the rule of law to ensure protections for individuals.

Kelsey Speers is Director of Oversight and Engagement at Democracy Forward.

Kelsey comes to Democracy Forward with more than a decade of experience working in government and non-profit spaces. She most recently worked as Research Director at American Oversight, an ethics watchdog dedicated to advancing government transparency and accountability.

Anne Swift is Senior Counsel at Democracy Forward.

A litigator with experience at every level of the federal courts, Anne represented clients at litigation boutique Massey & Gail before joining Democracy Forward. She previously worked as an associate in the Washington office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and served as Special Counsel to the Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. She clerked for the Honorable James E. Graves, Jr. at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Honorable Robert Pitman at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Anne maintained a commitment to pro bono throughout her time in private practice, including by litigating challenges to reproductive rights in federal trials and appeals courts; representing inmates at parole hearings through the D.C. Prisoners’ Project; and obtaining asylum for refugees from Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, and Kosovo. Anne is especially passionate about defending communities against anti-abortion legislation and related extremist policies. She served as president of the board of Avow, which works to secure unrestricted abortion access for every Texan, for three years.

Anne graduated with honors from The University of Texas Law School and holds a master’s degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the same institution. While in law school, she was a member of the editorial board of the Texas Law Review, served as a Dean’s Fellow, and was president of the American Constitution Society. She previously worked as a crisis management consultant for several years.

Anne is a member of the Texas and the District of Columbia bars.

Julia Syzbala is Interim Director for Oversight and Engagement at Democracy Forward.

Before joining Democracy Forward, Julia spent a decade at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she most recently served as Assistant General Counsel for Oversight. In her time at the Bureau, Julia managed the agency’s responses to investigations and oversight inquiries from Congress, the Government Accountability Office, and the Inspector General, and helped agency leaders across multiple administrations navigate complex legal and policy issues with an emphasis on transparency, accountability, and good governance. Julia began her career in private practice, where she focused on regulatory compliance and internal investigations.

Julia earned her B.A. from Virginia Tech and her J.D. from Columbia Law School. She is admitted to practice in New York and Washington, D.C.

Sharyn A. Tejani is the Managing Attorney at Democracy Forward.

Sharyn served most recently as an Associate Legal Counsel in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In that position, she oversaw and directly worked on regulations, guidance, and policies regarding civil rights protections for workers. She also coordinated the EEOC’s litigation defending its regulations and guidance.

Immediately prior to joining the EEOC, Sharyn worked at the National Women’s Law Center as the Director of the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, which assists workers facing sexual harassment obtain and pay for legal assistance.

Sharyn’s career also includes being a Trial Attorney and Deputy at Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, where she litigated individual disparate treatment and large disparate impact cases involving employment discrimination based on race and sex.

Ms. Tejani graduated from Yale Law School and Georgetown University Law Center. She is licensed to practice in Washington D.C. and New York.

Robin Thurston is Legal Director at Democracy Forward.

Robin has been at Democracy Forward since 2017, during which time she has represented local governments, unions, and non-profit organizations in litigating against government misconduct and anti-democratic policies. She has also led Democracy Forward’s regulatory advocacy work, bringing a diverse range of perspectives and expertise into federal policymaking.

Prior to joining Democracy Forward, she served as a trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. In this position, she defended high profile challenges to government policies and programs. Earlier in her career, Robin enforced consumer protection laws at the Federal Trade Commission.

Robin clerked for the Honorable Paul L. Friedman of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She holds a J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. in History with High Honors from Stanford University.

Somil Trivedi is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Democracy Forward, where he develops and executes multidisciplinary projects across litigation, policy, and public advocacy to ensure that democracy truly works for our communities. 

Somil was previously the Chief Legal & Advocacy Director at Maryland Legal Aid, leading a 200+ person legal and policy department covering all aspects of poverty reduction, including housing, consumer protection, and public benefits. Somil has also served as a Senior Staff Attorney at the National ACLU, focusing on criminal justice reform and voting rights; a Trial Attorney in the DOJ’s Fraud Section; and a Senior Associate at WilmerHale LLP. 

Somil has litigated cases at all levels of the justice system, including the U.S. Supreme Court and several state high courts, and contributed to bill passage at the federal, state, and local levels. He is a frequent contributor to public discourse via TV appearances, op-eds, podcasts, and policy briefings, with appearances on CNN and Bloomberg, and in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among other outlets. 

Somil earned his BA from Georgetown University and his JD from Boston University School of Law. He lives in Maryland with his wife and two children, and is always up for barbecue, tennis, or live music.

Megan Uzzell is the Director of Impact and External Affairs at Democracy Forward.

Megan joined Democracy Forward after having served eight years at the U.S. Department of Labor, where she most recently was the Associate Deputy Secretary for Policy. In this role Megan led Departmental efforts on regulatory, policy and agency matters such as wage standards, work and family policy, enforcement, immigration and worker safety. Prior to joining the Labor Department, Megan served in the U.S. House of Representatives, working as Legislative Director for a member from Southern California and handling energy, environment, appropriations and transportation matters. In 2005, Megan was named one of the Hill’s top 35 staffers under 35.

Originally from Kansas City, Kansas, Megan has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Political Science and International Affairs from Drake University, and a Master of Arts in International Affairs from George Washington University.

Kerri Wade is the Interim Manager, External Engagement at Democracy Forward.

Kerri joined Democracy Forward with more than 20 years of advocacy and communications experience. Most recently, she served as the Chief Public Affairs Officer and Lead for Strategic Communications at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), where she led a team of experts working to improve health outcomes for all people who desire or experience pregnancy. Prior to SMFM, she was a registered lobbyist and the principal media affairs staff person at the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses.

Kerri earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a Master’s of Public Affairs from George Washington University. A proud Michigan native, she cheers for the Wolverines every football season.

Michael Waldman is General Counsel at Democracy Forward.

Michael most recently served as Special Counsel for Oversight and Investigations at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.  In that role, he advised the Secretary on oversight matters and managed the department’s responses to congressional, Inspector General, GAO, and Office of Special Counsel investigations and inquiries.  He also oversaw compliance with congressional subpoenas and prepared department witnesses for congressional hearings and interviews. 

Prior to his government service, Michael spent over two decades as a litigation partner in private practice, first at the international law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and then litigation boutique Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck & Sauber LLP. He handled a range of criminal, civil and enforcement matters, including federal white-collar investigations, False Claims Act and qui tam lawsuits, debarment proceedings, bid protests, congressional investigations and complex commercial cases. He also conducted sensitive internal investigations and advised on compliance matters. In addition, he has argued numerous cases in the U.S. courts of appeals, including before the U.S. Supreme Court.  

Michael began his legal career clerking for the Honorable Robert Vance of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude.

Janice White is the Community Office Assistant at Democracy Forward.

Janice is responsible for supporting the daily operations of our office, fostering a positive and inclusive atmosphere, and ensuring smooth communication between team members as well as community members. Prior to joining Democracy Forward, Janice served as a Legal Secretary, Administrative Assistant at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP. 

Audrey Wiggins is Legal Director at Democracy Forward.

Audrey is a career civil rights attorney with both career public sector and private sector experience. Audrey joins Democracy Forward after serving as the senior adviser to the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Audrey also served as the deputy associate general counsel in the HHS Office of General Counsel (OGC) Civil Rights Division, the executive chair of the HHS OGC Training Committee and the executive chair of the HHS OGC Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Work Group, which she founded. While at HHS,  Audrey managed teams focused on issues related to civil rights, health information privacy, equity, DEIA, conscience and artificial intelligence. Audrey became well-known for her passion in following Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) jurisprudence. She created a consistent platform for training sessions dedicated to the review of decisions and how they apply to the work of HHS for colleagues and senior leadership. 

Audrey also served as a deputy chief in the Employment Litigation Section in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.  As a Deputy Chief, Audrey supervised both attorney and administrative staff in the Section’s litigation.  Audrey also served in leadership roles at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law where she supervised litigation and other advocacy efforts in the areas of employment discrimination, community development, fair housing, fair lending and environmental justice. While at the Lawyers’ Committee, Audrey served as the co-chair of the Employment Task Force of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Earlier in her career, she served as an attorney advisor for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and as a public defender. 

Audrey holds a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University’s Institute for Transformational Leadership. Audrey is a double HBCU (Historically Black College and University) graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Hampton University and a Juris Doctor degree from N.C. Central University.  Audrey is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, North Carolina and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Paul Wolfson is a Senior Legal Advisor at Democracy Forward.

Paul has more than thirty years of experience in litigating before federal and state courts at all levels, including more than twenty arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court. Before joining Democracy Forward, he served as Deputy Associate Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he supervised the litigation of the Civil Division in all of its areas and provided strategic advice to Department leaders and to dozens of federal agencies. For almost twenty years he was a partner and co-chair of Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation at a leading Washington, D.C., law firm, and had experience in a wide array of subject areas, as well as extensive pro bono commitments. He also served for eight years in DOJ’s Office of the
Solicitor General, where he appeared regularly before the U.S. Supreme Court, and for four years at Public Citizen Litigation Group, one of the nation’s leading public interest firms.

Paul is a graduate of Harvard College, the University of Cambridge, and the Yale Law School, and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Byron White and Judge Phyllis Kravitch of the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.