BORDC Board of Directors
Joe W. (Chip) Pitts III, President, is a lecturer at Stanford Law School and investor/entrepreneur who has been a lifelong activist on domestic and international human rights, civil liberties, and ethical globalization. Co-author and editor of the recent book Corporate Social Responsibility: A Legal Analysis, as well as other publications on business, technology, privacy, sustainability, and human rights, he is former chair of Amnesty International USA. For more than two decades, he has served as a frequent delegate and expert advisor to various United Nations and other initiatives on global ethical, environmental, social, anti-corruption and human rights norms and accountability, while also serving as a leader, board member, or advisor to other business and nonprofit organizations. He led the successful resolution effort in Dallas, TX, and has helped lead BORDC's other efforts nationally to defend the rule of law and civil liberties.
Kit Gage, Treasurer, is the former director of the Defending Dissent Foundation, which is an amalgam of the First Amendment Foundation and the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation (formerly the National Committee to Abolish HUAC), which Kit directed previously. Kit edited and wrote the epilogue for First Amendment Felon, a biography of NCAHUAC founder Frank Wilkinson by Robert Sherrill.
Allen J. Davis, Secretary, is the executive director of the Greenfield Community College Foundation in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Flavia Alaya, a writer and retired professor of cultural studies, has committed much of her life to social and political advocacy and activism. She was a cofounding member of the New Jersey Civil Rights Defense Committee (NJCRDC), which has sought to work directly with immigration detainees in exposing and changing unconstitutional and inhumane US detention policies in the post-9/11 period.
Glenn C. Devitt is a founder and the first volunteer chair of the New York City Bill of Rights Defense Campaign (NYCBORDC), through which thousands of grassroots activists and a local coalition of nearly one hundred organizations mobilized to pass New York City’s very strong Bill of Rights resolution.
Lisa Graves became the new Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy in July 2009. She previously served as a senior advisor in all three branches of the federal government, as a leading strategist on civil liberties advocacy, and as an adjunct professor at George Washington University Law School.
Jennifer S. Holmes is an associate professor of political economy and political science at the University of Texas at Dallas. She received her BA from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Her major area of research is political violence, terrorism, and political development with an emphasis on Latin America and Southern Europe.
Gladys Limon is the staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). As a recipient of the Fried Frank Fellowship, she spent two years as a litigation associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobsen LLP in New York before joining MALDEF. Gladys received her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2003 and was a law clerk to the Hon. Lawrence K. Karlton in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (2003-2005).
Joan Mandell is a documentary filmmaker, educator and activist based in Detroit, MI, where she directs Olive Branch Productions. Her ground-breaking documentaries include Tales from Arab Detroit, Voices in Exile: Immigrants and the First Amendment, Gaza Ghetto (about the impact of war and military occupation on family life) and One Million Postcards (about how children can become involved in grassroots organizing and activism).