I’m thrilled to announce that Brad Sears, the Institute's founding Executive Director, has agreed to step in as the Interim Executive Director of the Williams Institute. Nearly 20 years ago, Brad’s vision, creativity, and commitment helped build the Williams Institute into the influential research organization it is today.
During the past three years, Brad has served as the Associate Dean of Public Interest Law at UCLA School of Law, where he has led a number of new initiatives including our inaugural Public Service Challenge later this month. (I hope you will join us.) He has also continued to work on LGBTQ research and policy work as a senior scholar at the Williams Institute. For example, this year, he was awarded over $630,000 in funding to support his research on the criminalization of HIV in the U.S., featured as part of the Hill’s national LGBTQ+ Summit, and was honored by Equality California with a 2020 Los Angeles Community Leadership Award. We are grateful to have Brad’s insight, leadership, and guidance as we celebrate the Williams Institute’s 20th anniversary.
As you know, this week, Jocelyn Samuels left her role as Executive Director of the Williams Institute to take a seat on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). We are deeply grateful for Jocelyn's leadership at the Institute and look forward to continuing to work with her in this new role.
In the coming weeks, we will update you as we begin the search process for Jocelyn’s replacement. In the meantime, I hope you will join me in expressing our congratulations to Jocelyn and welcome and appreciation to Brad.
