Executive Director

Kimberly Freeman Brown’s tenure with American Rights at Work began with the organization’s inception in 2004. Prior to accepting the Executive Director post in November 2009, Kimberly served the organization as its Deputy Director. In the year and a half that she held that position, American Rights at Work significantly diversified its funding, doubled its staff size, and played a prominent role in workers' rights legislative efforts.

As the founding Communications Director, Kimberly built American Rights at Work’s media operation and led the organization in exposing unionbusting in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal within six months of joining the staff. During the 2007 push for the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress, she authored American Rights at Work’s first series of fact sheets on the bill that were widely used to brief congressional staffers, members, and opinion leaders. Additionally, she has written and placed numerous opinion editorials for board members, academics, and allies that have helped frame the public discourse on labor law reform.

Before joining American Rights at Work, Kimberly served the progressive community as a senior communications strategist for more than a decade. She is the former Communications Director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, where she developed and managed national and international media campaigns on domestic social justice issues and international human rights. As an independent public relations consultant, she has designed national public relations projects for clients including the Children’s Defense Fund, the National Breast Cancer Coalition, the Peace Development Fund, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Kimberly currently serves on the board of the Grassroots Policy Project, a national nonprofit that resources a broad cross-section of progressive organizations across the U.S. with programs that combine political and popular education with strategic planning, leadership, and organizational development. She has previously served on the boards of Grassroots International and International Possibilities Unlimited, which resource social justice movements globally.