Leadership
Cecile Richards
TrusteeCecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, serves on the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees. She is chair of the board's Finance Committee and a member of the Executive; Proxy; and Economic Opportunity and Assets committees.
Before joining Planned Parenthood in 2006, Richards served as deputy chief of staff for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and played a key role in her being elected the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives. In 2004, she founded and served as president of America Votes, a coalition of 42 national membership-based organizations that works to maximize voter registration, education and mobilization efforts at the grass-roots level.
The daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, she was raised in a family committed to social justice and public service. Richards began her career organizing low-wage workers in the hotel, health care and janitorial industries throughout California, Louisiana and Texas.
Prior to her national advocacy work, Richards established the Texas Freedom Network, of which she is now a trustee, to advance a mainstream agenda of religious freedom and individual liberties across the state. The grassroots organization has grown to include more than 50,000 religious and community leaders.
Richards received her bachelor's degree from Brown University.
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