San Francisco (July 15, 2014)—The Rosenberg Foundation today announced the election of Benjamin Todd Jealous and Kate Kendell to its Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to have these thoughtful civil rights advocates join our Board,” said Bill Lann Lee, chair of the Rosenberg Foundation’s Board of Directors. “Ben and Kate bring broad experience as leaders both statewide and nationally, and we will benefit greatly from their insight in our work to advance rights and dismantle barriers to opportunities for all Californians.”

Benjamin Todd Jealous is a partner at the Kapor Center for Social Impact, focused on social impact investments in tech startups and community organizations that narrow gaps. As former president and CEO of the NAACP, he has been a leader of successful state and local movements to ban the death penalty, outlaw racial profiling, defend voting rights, secure marriage equality and free multiple wrongfully incarcerated people. Prior to leading the NAACP, he was president of the Rosenberg Foundation from 2005 to 2008, served as the founding director of Amnesty International’s US Human Rights Program, and spent 15 years as a journalist and community organizer. A Rhodes Scholar, he is a graduate of Columbia University and Oxford University. He has been named to the 40 under 40 lists of both Forbes and Time magazines, and is #1 on TheRoot.com’s 2013 list of black leaders under 45.

Kate Kendell is executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy and public education. She grew up Mormon in Utah and received her J.D. degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1988. After spending time as a corporate attorney, she was named the first staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah. In this capacity, she oversaw the legal department of ACLU of Utah and directly litigated many high-profile cases focusing on all aspects of civil liberties, including reproductive rights, prisoners’ rights, church/state conflicts, free speech, and the rights of LGBT people. In 1994, she accepted the position as legal director with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, based in San Francisco. She was named executive director in 1996. She has appeared in hundreds of media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Good Morning America, CNN and more. She lives in San Francisco with her spouse and their children.