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Appleseed Welcomes New President Bert Brandenburg
May 29, 2015
Contact: Appleseed Co-Chairs
Rick Ketchum, [email protected], 202-728-8140
Brian Brooks, [email protected], 202-752-1760
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Appleseed, a nonprofit network of 17 public interest justice centers in
the United States and Mexico, is delighted to announce that Bert Brandenburg will become its
new president. Brandenburg brings more than 25 years of public-sector experience leading
legal reform efforts, including as executive director of Justice at Stake (JAS), and as the chief
spokesman and Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Justice Department under Attorney
General Janet Reno. He will begin his new position full time on August 31, 2015; in the interim,
he will transition from JAS to Appleseed.
“Appleseed is excited to welcome Bert Brandenburg as its new president,” said Board Co-Chair
Rick Ketchum. “His leadership experience and skills leading reform efforts will help
Appleseed’s centers tackle barriers to justice and opportunity across North America.”
Malcolm Rich, Executive Director of Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and co-chair of the
network’s Executive Director Council, lauded Brandenburg’s hiring: “The Appleseed centers
look forward to working with Bert to enhance collaboration within and across the network.”
“At a time when poverty and opportunity are finally getting some overdue attention, it is an
honor to join Appleseed’s crusade to increase opportunity and ensure that the law and our
institutions are fair,” said Brandenburg. “Every family deserves a chance to build a decent life.
Every child deserves to thrive. Appleseed is a growing force for good in breaking down
barriers to give everyone, especially the most vulnerable among us, the opportunity to live a
good life.”
As president of Appleseed, Brandenburg will lead a network of 17 public interest justice centers
that work with a large team of pro bono attorneys to identify and examine social injustices,
make policy recommendations, and advocate for effective solutions to deep-seated structural
problems. Appleseed was founded in 1993 by graduates of the Harvard Law School Class of
1958 to promote a new form of pro bono service designed to bring attorneys together at the
state and local level to focus on broad and systemic social initiatives—not only to restrain
injustice, but also to give everyone the opportunity to fulfill their potential in life.
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Appleseed’s centers sponsor research, advocacy and litigation designed to advance education
and protect vulnerable youth, fight poverty and help people build assets, secure justice and
democracy, and promote health and safety.
Brandenburg has worked at Justice at Stake since its founding, and has served as its executive
director for more than a decade, leading a national partnership to keep courts fair and
impartial. He was the Justice Department's Director of Public Affairs and chief spokesperson
under Attorney General Janet Reno, where he supervised media strategy and press relations for
the Justice Department, the FBI, DEA, INS, and 93 U.S. Attorney’s offices. He has also served
on Capitol Hill, at a national think tank and on two presidential campaigns.
Brandenburg’s reform leadership efforts include service as president of the board of directors of
the National Institute on Money in State Politics, as founding chair of the Committee on Fair
and Impartial Courts of the American Bar Association’s Section on Individual Rights &
Responsibilities, and on the National Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Judicial Campaign
Conduct. He is a member of the board of directors of the Lois Roth Endowment, and has also
served as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He holds a J.D. and
B.A. from the University of Virginia.
Brandenburg replaces Betsy Cavendish, who led Appleseed until the end of 2014, when she
accepted a position as General Counsel to District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser. Annette
LoVoi, the Director of Appleseed’s Financial Access and Asset Building Program, has been
serving as interim president.
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