Advancement Project Names Carmen Daugherty Executive Director

September 17, 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Advancement Project, a national legal and racial justice organization, announced today that Carmen Daugherty has been named Executive Director. The appointment follows the departure of former Executive Director Judith Browne Dianis, who cofounded the organization and spent decades at the organization working alongside grassroots partners to demand a more inclusive democracy.

Daugherty has served as deputy executive director at Advancement Project since 2022, where she helped shape a bold, cross-organizational strategy that connects the fight for education justice, racial justice, and a multiracial democracy. In her new role, Daugherty will oversee Advancement Project’s cross-programmatic strategy, continuing the organization’s work to unify legal, communications, and organizing strategies in pursuit of racial justice. Advancement Project is fighting to protect communities on every front – from advocating for students’ right to police- and ICE-free schools,  to defending the right to protest, to safeguarding the right to vote free from military intimidation. Daugherty will steward that fight for a democracy that works for everyone.

“We are committed to building collective power, safety, and self-determination for our communities, even as we face some of the greatest threats to our democracy in a generation. There has never been a more urgent need for the work Advancement Project does every day,” said Daugherty. “I’m stepping into this role to ensure we stay one step ahead in the fight for liberation, and that Advancement Project remains the place organizers come to build power, test new strategies, and get free. We will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the community leaders building the future, not just in moments of crisis but in the everyday, difficult work of building power.”

Before joining Advancement Project, Daugherty served as Policy Director at the Youth First Initiative, where she helped drive state-based campaigns to end youth incarceration and redirect resources toward community-centered alternatives. She previously spent nearly a decade at the Campaign for Youth Justice, also serving as Policy Director, working to end the prosecution and incarceration of young people in the adult criminal justice system. Daugherty began her legal career in Washington, D.C., as a staff attorney and later Deputy Director of a special education advocacy organization.

Daugherty has contributed to the American Bar Association’s Section on Civil Rights and Social Justice and has served for several years on a D.C.-based youth justice advisory group. She is a graduate of Vassar College and earned her Juris Doctor from Tulane University School of Law. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, she now lives in Maryland with her family, with enduring roots in New Orleans.

Since its founding in 1999, Advancement Project has built a track record of major wins for racial justice. The organization built its Voter Protection program and has helped lead the fight against voter suppression efforts nationwide, including as a founding member of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, credited with the historic passage of Florida’s Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to people with prior felony convictions. Advancement Project also pioneered the movement to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, producing research that helped drive down student suspensions and arrests in school districts in Denver, Baltimore, and across Florida. Under Daugherty’s leadership, Advancement Project will continue standing with grassroots organizations nationwide in the fight for racial justice and multiracial democracy.

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Advancement Project is a next-generation, multi-racial civil rights organization. Rooted in the great human rights struggles for equality and justice, we exist to fulfill America’s promise of a caring, inclusive, and just democracy. We use innovative tools and strategies to strengthen social movements and achieve high-impact policy change. Visit www.advancementproject.org to learn more.

We are a co-convener of the National Campaign for Police-Free Schools, a coalition of 20+ youth-led grassroots organizations fighting to end the criminalization of youth in the classroom, create liberatory educational spaces, and implement an affirmative vision of safety and transformative justice.