From October 2000 to June 2007, as Project Director in the ABA Civil Rights and Social Justice Section, he developed programming and projects on Bill of Rights issues and directed the AIDS Coordination Project at the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, broadening the ABA’s engagement from a domestic focus to an international human rights perspective encompassing social determinants of health, which affect patients’ well being but are beyond the reach of medical intervention alone.

From June 2007 to August 2025, he directed the ABA Center for Human Rights, driving its growth from an unstaffed and unfunded start-up to a multimillion dollar organization of more than 20 staff supporting over 2,000 human rights defenders in 77 countries and developing ABA policy, standing initiatives, and advocacy on business and human rights, dignity rights, health and human rights, international criminal justice, labor rights, and international trial monitoring. In so doing, the Center partnered with a range of public and private donors and institutions, including the US State Department, the Clooney Foundation for Justice, and the Human Rights Institute at Georgetown Law, among many others.

In September 2025 he formally launched cylindr — the online magazine and meetinghouse for democracy, human rights, and rule of law, featuring human rights and rule of law advocates across a broad range of issues and disciplines; original writing; and the Rule of Law Defenders podcast (cylindrmag.substack.com(This link opens in a new tab)).

A native of the Washington, DC, area, he holds a JD from the Penn State Dickinson School of Law and a BA in Political Science from the University of South Carolina.