Human and Civil Rights Leader Margaret Huang Hired as New SPLC President and CEO

The following announcement was submitted by SPLC Board Chairperson Bryan Fair. 

I am delighted to announce that internationally renowned human and civil rights leader Margaret Huang has been hired as the new president and chief executive officer of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund beginning on April 20.

When we began our search, we sought out a leader with a distinguished social justice record, a proven commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, strong management skills within a large social justice organization, and ingenuity and vision. 

That led us to Margaret. In her, we have found all those characteristics and more.

Margaret, who currently serves as executive director of Amnesty International USA, brings more than 25 years of leadership experience to SPLC and the SPLC Action Fund. Throughout her career, she has been a champion for social justice and human dignity, advocating against discrimination and oppression.

Huang is the architect behind Amnesty International USA’s campaigns to protect the human rights of migrants and refugees, torture survivors, gun violence victims, and activists and protestors globally. In this role, she has also worked with members of Congress on critical pieces of legislation; led several human rights missions to the U.S.-México border to hear from asylum-seekers and document abuses; accompanied three transgender youth across the border to seek asylum; and sent and led human rights observer delegations to Baltimore, Ferguson, Missouri and Standing Rock, North Dakota, to monitor and document police responses to protestors.

She previously served as the executive director of the Rights Working Group, which focused on protecting human rights and civil liberties of communities in the post-September 11 era. She also served as director of the U.S. program at Global Rights, program director of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, program manager at The Asia Foundation, and as committee staff for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

With Margaret’s leadership, I am confident we will continue our journey to not only be an effective 21st Century civil rights organization doing vital work, but also a model, demonstrating best practices to partner with employees and the communities we serve to create an environment where all can thrive.

We are as committed as ever before to combating the forces of hate and bigotry and to exploring new and innovative ways to work with allied organizations as we all tackle the challenges our nation is facing.

I wish to thank each of you — our supporters who have stood by our side during this transformational year at SPLC.

Without your support, this work would not be possible.