Urvashi Vaid
(in memoriam)
Urvashi Vaid (she/her) was president of the Vaid Group, LLC, a mission-driven consulting and social innovation firm supporting nonprofits, foundations, businesses, and individuals working for equity and justice. She was also executive director of Justice Work, a social justice incubator and think tank.
Urvashi held leadership roles in philanthropic, advocacy, community, and academic organizations, including as executive director of the Arcus Foundation; deputy director of the Governance and Civil Society Unit at the Ford Foundation; senior fellow at the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School; executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force; and staff attorney at the National Prison Project, ACLU.
She authored Irresistible Revolution: Confronting Race, Class and the Assumptions of LGBT Politics (2012); Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay and Lesbian Liberation (1996); a co-edited anthology titled Creating Change: Public Policy, Sexuality and Civil Rights (2000); and many reports.
She was a board alumnus of the Gill Foundation, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, LPAC, the Roadwork Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Provincetown Commons. Urvashi was a graduate of Vassar College and Northeastern University School of Law.
Urvashi was one of the five incorporators of the American LGBTQ+ Museum.