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Former GLAA President Lorri L. Jean named NGLTF Executive Director
1700 Kalorama Road NW
Washington, DC 20009-2624
202-332-6483
ngltf@ngltf.org
Monday, May 21, 2001
Lorri L. Jean Named Executive Director of NGLTF
Movement veteran, pioneering director of L.A. Center
takes Task Force helm
MEDIA CONTACT:
David Elliot, Communications Director
delliot@ngltf.org
202-332-6483, ext. 3303
Pager: 800-757-6476
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Board of Directors today named prominent gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) movement leader Lorri L. Jean as executive director. Jean, the former executive director of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, will begin work in early June.
“I am honored to have been selected as the new executive director of NGLTF,” Jean said, “and I have long admired its work on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement. I am especially proud to be joining the staff at this pivotal political moment when an unapologetic and inclusive approach to our community's rights is of such great importance.”
“What our movement needs now more than ever is NGLTF’s strong and progressive leadership. I’m ecstatic that Lorri Jean has enthusiastically accepted the challenge,” said Rachel Rosen, co-chair of the NGLTF Board of Directors. “Lorri represents the best of our movement: a proven track record of building local communities, a strong commitment to progressive political work, and a demonstrated history of building nonprofit financial strength and stability.”
“NGLTF and the entire LGBT community is unbelievably fortunate to have someone like Lorri Jean lead us at this time,” said Phill Wilson, founder of the Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum and currently founding director of the African American AIDS Policy and Treatment Institute. “There are very few people in our community that bring this level of experience, vision and commitment to progressive change. Lorri embodies the best we have to offer. I'm looking forward to working with her and the Task Force.”
Jean, a dynamic leader with proven fundraising skills, has a long history of accomplishments. As a community leader in Los Angeles, she has received numerous honors and awards. Among her major accomplishments are:
- Jean led the L.A. Center through a period of unprecedented expansion, dramatically increasing the number of clients and volunteers, the diversity and volume of services, the number of staff, and the size of the budget to make the Center the largest GLBT organization in the world. Under her leadership, the Center’s annual budget grew from $8 million to $32 million, and private donor giving grew from $1 million to more than $9 million annually.
- Under her leadership, the Center launched Lambda Medical Group, the first-of-its-kind HMO/managed care practice; opened three state-of-the-art medical facilities; purchased, funded, and renovated a $7 million facility; and created the Center’s first endowment fund of $10 million.
- While at the L.A. Center, Jean co-founded the National Association of LGBT Community Centers, a coalition of centers serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. The coalition meets annually at NGLTF Foundation’s Creating Change conference.
- Jean served at the president of Washington, D.C.’s Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance from
1986-1988. She was the lead plaintiff in the landmark successful lawsuit against Georgetown
University charging sexual orientation-based discrimination.
- Prior to taking on her role at the L.A. Center, Jean was the Deputy Regional Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in San Francisco, where she oversaw the disaster response and recovery operations of FEMA’s largest region. Previously, she was the Associate General Counsel at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Most recently, Jean was the co-founder and chief operating officer of a Los Angeles-based advertising company serving the e-commerce industry. She holds a J.D. from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and B.S. in Communication from Arizona State University. She and her partner of nine years, attorney Gina M. Calvelli, live in Los Angeles.