The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund Welcome New Campaigns Staff

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and its sister organization, The Leadership Conference Education Fund, announced the addition of two new senior staff members: LaShawn Warren, senior vice president of campaigns and programs and Lena Zwarensteyn, fair courts campaign director.

“We are fortunate to welcome these two talented additions to our team,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund. “During these troubling times, Lena and LaShawn bring rich, dynamic experience that will strengthen our fight for fair courts, justice, equality, and inclusion for all.”

LaShawn Warren is senior vice president of campaigns and programs. Previously, she served as vice president of the faith and progressive policy initiative at the Center for American Progress (CAP) where her work focused on the intersection of faith, values, ethics, public policy, and activism. Prior to CAP, she served as vice president and general counsel for the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, where she oversaw the legal, policy, communications, and field programming for the organization’s criminal justice, economic development, and civic engagement pillars. Before this, she worked as vice president of policy development and programming at the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. Warren also worked as oversight counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. Before assuming her position with the committee, Warren was legislative counsel for civil rights in the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union. She also served as a legislative analyst for the Seattle City Council and was an assistant attorney general for Washington state’s attorney general. Warren is a graduate of Yale Divinity School, Howard University School of Law, and she graduated magna cum laude from Savannah State University and has nonprofit management certification from Georgetown University.

Lena Zwarensteyn is the fair courts campaign director. Zwarensteyn previously served as the director of strategic engagement at the American Constitution Society (ACS), where she oversaw the organization’s work on judicial nominations and why courts matter. Before joining ACS, Zwarensteyn served the senior director of government relations at Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. where she oversaw the national organization’s government relations efforts on issues related to early childhood education, higher education affordability and national and community service. She started her career in the government relations department at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She graduated from Wellesley College and Michigan State University College of Law.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

The Leadership Conference Education Fund builds public will for federal policies that promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. The Education Fund’s campaigns empower and mobilize advocates around the country to push for progressive change in the United States. It was founded in 1969 as the education and research arm of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. For more information on The Education Fund, visit http://leadershipconferenceedfund.org/.