Ann Beeson

Ann Beeson is a distinguished social justice lawyer and a zealous advocate for the transformative power of culture. She is currently a senior fellow with the Open Society Foundations. Having worked as an executive in law and philanthropy for many years, she is dedicating the next phase of her career to pursuing two of her passions: expanding support for the role that culture plays in social change and building the progressive base in her home state of Texas. She recently moved back to Austin from New York City with her family.

Beeson was the executive director of U.S. Programs at the Open Society Foundations from 2007 to 2011. At the Foundations, she launched programs to strengthen government transparency and address the crisis in journalism, increase the capacity of Muslim, South Asian, and Arab organizations to advocate on their own behalf, and advance achievement for African-American men and boys. 

Ann was previously the national associate legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, where she worked from 1995-2007. She argued twice before the U.S. Supreme Court, litigated numerous cases around the country, and launched groundbreaking programs to stop the erosion of civil liberties in the name of national security and to expand the use of international human rights strategies in the areas of immigrants' rights, women's rights, and racial justice.

In June 2007, Beeson was named one of the 50 most influential women lawyers in America by the National Law Journal. Ann was a law clerk for the Honorable Barefoot Sanders, then chief judge for the Northern District of Texas. She holds a law degree from Emory University and a master's degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Texas.