Washington, D.C. — Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Pursuit of Justice by the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. The recognition was announced today and presented at the Institute’s Legacy Awards Dinner on September 11 at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, as part of a larger symposium marking the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Perryman was honored alongside Ambassador Keith M. Harper, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Human Rights; Pastor William H. Lamar IV, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Pursuit of Justice; and Professor Dorothy E. Roberts, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Academic Excellence.

“It is an honor for the O’Neill Institute to celebrate individuals whose work embodies resilience, courage, and justice. As we reflect on Hurricane Katrina’s enduring legacy, these awards remind us of the power and urgent need for leadership in confronting inequality and advancing human dignity. We celebrate not only remarkable achievements, but the promise of building a more just and healthy future together,” said Professor Michele Bratcher Goodwin, faculty director of the O’Neill Institute and Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy.

Part of its founding litigation team, 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. 

“I am incredibly humbled and honored to be recognized by the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown University Law Center during a time when the stakes for the American people, the legal profession, and democracy as a whole are so high. The work of justice has always been urgent and is never finished. This recognition is a testament to the courageous clients I have had the opportunity to work on behalf of throughout my career and the exceptional colleagues I have worked alongside who have made me a stronger lawyer and leader,” said Skye L. Perryman. “This honor is especially meaningful to me because I received my legal education at Georgetown University Law Center where I had the opportunity to learn from the greats, including the late Father Robert Drinan whose commitment to legal ethics and justice and willingness to speak truth to power inspired generations of lawyers.”

Over the course of Perryman’s legal career, which has spanned nearly two decades, she has served in litigation roles at two global law firms, as a general counsel and chief legal officer, and in non-profit organizations. Prior to joining Democracy Forward as CEO, Perryman served as the Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists where she oversaw a wide range of legal, policy, and communications initiatives in the COVID-19 pandemic, including a legal strategy that led to the distribution of mifepristone by mail for the first time in U.S. history, a policy strategy that extended Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of women, and an industry-wide effort to promote racial equity in medicine.

Perryman began her legal career in litigation roles at WilmerHale and Covington & Burling, 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’s full biography is available here.

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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.