Joe Saunders

An award-winning progressive leader, Joe’s skills live at the intersection of strategic communications, policy, elections, nonprofit management, and social movement building. He has led successful ballot measure campaigns, won local policy campaigns protecting millions of Floridians from discrimination, managed legislative advocacy programs in fourteen states, and held senior roles in the fight to win marriage equality in FL. As a state lawmaker, Joe was an issue area expert on policy areas including civil rights, K-12 education, early childhood education health and safety standards, arts and culture, and gun safety reform. From 2012 - 2014, Joe served as the lead sponsor of the “Competitive Workforce Act”, legislation that would ban discrimination against LGBTQ Floridians, and the "Arts for All Students Act" legislation that would help guarantee equal access to quality arts education for Florida's K-12 students.<br><br>As Equality Florida’s Senior Political Director, Joe leads the policy and political programs for the country’s largest state-based LGBTQ rights organization. In 2012, Joe was the first LGBTQ state lawmaker in Florida to take the oath of office where he served with distinction as Deputy Whip and a member of the Florida House Democratic Caucus leadership team. He holds three degrees from the University of Central Florida and was recognized by OUT Magazine in 2016 as a part of the "OUT 100" for his work to support the international response to the tragedy at Pulse Nightclub. <br><br>Following his tenure in the Florida House, Joe joined the staff of the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization. In this role he managed legislative and election programs in the South and Midwest. In 2016, Joe lead Turn Out North Carolina the successful effort to defeat North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory - a champion of the notoriously anti-LGBTQ House Bill 2. In 2017, Joe worked across the pond as the Director of GOTV Programs for former United Kingdom Minister of Justice and openly LGBT candidate for U.K. Parliament, Simon Hughes.<br><br>Joe is an adjunct faculty member in the Public Policy and Administration Department at Florida International University. His academic interests include nonprofit management, public policy, and the machinery of advocacy-centered nonprofits. | Learn more about Joe Saunders, MPA, MNM's work experience, education, connections & more by visiting their profile on LinkedIn