Washington, DC – The Fairness Project is proud to announce today that Hannah Ledford has been named the organization’s new Executive Director.
Ledford is a longtime Fairness Project leader who most recently served as the organization’s Deputy Executive Director. Since 2019, she has been an architect of the Fairness Project’s nationally-recognized work empowering voters to use ballot measures to raise wages, defend abortion rights, enact paid family leave, curb predatory lending, protect democracy, and much more.
“For the past seven years, I’ve been proud to advance the Fairness Project’s mission to deliver policy wins that directly impact people’s lives. I’m honored to lead this incredible organization at a time when our fight to defend direct democracy and advance the will of the people is more urgent than ever,” said Ledford.
As a chief strategist behind most of the organization’s wins at the ballot box, Ledford has amassed a lengthy track record of success at the Fairness Project and played a pivotal role in its growth. An early champion for using ballot measures to go on offense for abortion rights in the wake of the fall of Roe v. Wade, she served as a central leader on the Fairness Project’s milestone campaigns that have enshrined reproductive rights into the constitutions of four states and counting.
Ledford has continued to build impactful programs that meet the moment. As state actors have ramped up attacks on the ballot initiative process, Ledford has become a central figure in the fight to protect, strengthen, and expand direct democracy in the United States.
Ledford succeeds outgoing Executive Director Kelly Hall. After a highly successful five years at the helm of the Fairness Project, Hall underscored Ledford’s deep leadership experience that will help the organization continue winning for working people.
“Hannah is the perfect leader to guide the Fairness Project forward at this critical moment for our democracy – a consummate campaigner and coalition-builder who takes on tough fights and wins,” said Hall. “She has the experience, passion, and vision to be successful in this role, and I am thrilled to pass the reins to her.”
Ledford joined the Fairness Project in 2019 and previously served as the organization’s Campaigns Director before her role as Deputy Executive Director and now Executive Director. Prior to her work at the Fairness Project, Ledford spent more than a decade leading competitive candidate campaigns across the country before turning her focus to defending America’s public lands, leading a national coalition of conservation groups during the first Trump administration.