Public Citizen Elects Five New Board Members
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Public Citizen Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation are pleased to announce today the election of five new board members, effective immediately. They are Anna Galland, former executive director of MoveOn Civic Action; Brandi Collins-Dexter, former senior campaign director at Color Of Change and visiting fellow at the Shorenstein Center; Emily Chatterjee, senior counsel at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Joseline Garcia, former president of the United States Student Association; and Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute.
The election of the five new board members results from an initiative that the Public Citizen boards launched in 2019 to expand and strengthen their roster. Galland joined in December 2019, and the other four new members were elected in September.
“Each of these new members brings remarkable expertise, leadership, experience, and passion for the public interest that will make Public Citizen stronger, bolder, and more impactful,” said Public Citizen President Robert Weissman. “Each of these new members has demonstrated a powerful commitment to Public Citizen’s central goals: defending democracy, resisting corporate power, and working to ensure that government works for the people – not for big corporations.”
Their full bios are below:
Anna Galland is the former executive director of MoveOn Civic Action, the grassroots progressive organization whose millions of members organize together to make this country a place where everyone can thrive. Anna led issue advocacy and electoral campaigns at MoveOn starting in 2007, including working to end the Iraq War, supporting Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, helping to pass the Affordable Care Act, defending Obama’s diplomatic agreement with Iran, and working to defeat Donald Trump. Under the Trump administration, MoveOn emerged as a pillar of the vibrant Resistance movement. Anna earned a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.
Brandi Collins-Dexter is a visiting fellow at the Shorenstein Center and consultant and former senior campaign director at Color Of Change, where she oversaw the media, culture, and economic justice team. She has led several successful and highly visible campaigns for corporate and government accountability including getting Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor taken off the air; winning Net neutrality protections, and pressuring financial companies to pull funding from hate groups. Brandi is a regular commentator in the media on racial justice. The Hill named her a 2017 “person to watch.” Brandi holds a bachelor’s degree from Agnes Scott College and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
Emily Chatterjee is senior counsel at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund. The Leadership Conference is the nation’s premier civil and human rights coalition, charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. Emily also serves as a legal expert for the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative in the Middle East and North Africa region. Emily is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and Brown University.
Joseline Garcia worked as the California and New York student organizing manager at Bernie Sanders for President and now works as an associate with Solidarity Strategies. Previously, she was the primary student negotiator to the Department of Education on the Borrower Defense Negotiated Rulemaking, and served as the president of the United States Student Association, the nation’s oldest and largest student organization. She is the daughter of Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants, and a first-generation alumni of the University of California, Santa Barbara. While at UCSB, she organized the largest Million Student March in the country, where more than 1,500 students participated, and she led a successful and historic campaign for the Latino student community to demand increases in and retention of their community at the school.
Maya Berry is executive director of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan, national civil rights organization founded in 1985 to nurture and encourage direct participation in our political and civic life to mobilize a strong, educated, and empowered Arab American community. In 1996, she established AAI’s first government relations department, which she led for five years before becoming a legislative director for U.S. House of Representatives Minority Whip David Bonior, where she managed the congressman’s legislative strategy and developed policies on international relations, human rights, immigration, civil rights and liberties, and trade. With a deep knowledge of public policymaking, Maya has helped expand AAI’s work on combatting hate crime, protecting the rights of securitized communities, and strengthening our democracy.