The Executive Director of the ACLU of Utah has announced plans to retire after nearly a decade in the position. Karen McCreary took the helm of the ACLU of Utah in 2006. Since then she has more than doubled the staff, overseen significant fundraising growth and expanded the statewide presence of the organization.
Danielle Hawkes is a board member of the ACLU of Utah. She started as an intern for the organization in 2008 and says McCreary has acted as a mentor to her ever since. She says within the organization, McCreary has cultivated a strong legislative activism in the capitol, along with ongoing litigation for important cases and a solid set of community outreach coalitions.
“She’s maintained those three bucket areas just so extraordinarily that we’ve really just had a ton of advances in our community that are due to that work,” says Hawkes.
Under McCreary’s direction, the organization has helped resolve cases involving immigration, LGBT rights and free speech, among others. McCreary says she is retiring to spend more time with her family, but she’s not worried about the future of Utah’s ACLU chapter.
“It’s an organization that not only survives transitions with people like me,” she says. “But just thrives and grows and has great people through supporters and partners across our state.”
McCreary will continue to work as executive director until the end of June.
