ST. LOUIS – The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri is pleased to announce that Jeffrey Mittman is the affiliate’s new executive director. May 29 was his first day leading the organization.
"We conducted a nationwide search and were fortunate to receive an impressive group of applicants,” said Sheila Greenbaum, president of the ACLU-EM board of trustees. “Jeffrey quickly leapt to the top with his deep passion for civil liberties, coupled with nearly a decade of leadership experience within the ACLU.”
Mittman was most recently the executive director of the ACLU affiliate in Alaska. From 2006-2008, he served as the deputy national field director for ACLU’s legislative office in D.C. In 2005, he was the USA PATRIOT Act and post 9/11 campaign coordinator for the ACLU of Northern California, where he had previously volunteered as a board member and chapter chair.
With an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Yale University, Mittman earned a juris doctorate from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law, where he was Symposium Editor for the “Constitutional Law Quarterly.” He served a four-year stint in the U. S. Army, ending as an airborne and ranger qualified infantry first lieutenant in Kirchgoens, Germany. As an attorney in private law practice for several years, Mittman specialized in litigation, including criminal defense and employment discrimination matters. He did advocacy organizing for Equality California, and has volunteered on electoral campaigns.
Mittman was drawn to the ACLU-EM for many reasons, including the opportunity for expansion. “All the pieces for tremendous growth and even greater impact are in place with an ensemble of passionate professionals, successful programs and an impressive history of legal victories,” Mittman said. “The goals for our team will be to engage our members and activists, inspire our donors and build on our strengths, so that the affiliate will always be ready and able to protect the civil liberties of Missourians far into the future.”
He follows Brenda L. Jones, who delayed her retirement plans five months. Jones had been the executive director since September 2004.