Strategic, collaborative, and outcome-focused leader dedicated to promoting human rights and building the capacity of non-governmental organizations. Masen Davis is an internationally recognized leader in the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. He previously served as interim Executive Director of Transgender Europe; CEO of Freedom for All Americans and its sister organization Freedom for All Americans Education Fund; and Senior Director of Special Programs at the Gill Foundation. From 2007-2015, he served as Executive Director of Transgender Law Center, a U.S.-based NGO with a budget of $2.1 million. Under his direction, TLC secured groundbreaking federal protections against employment discrimination for transgender people under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. From sweeping changes to nondiscrimination laws to unprecedented healthcare access initiatives for transgender people across the country, Masen’s leadership has had a tremendous impact on the rights and wellbeing of transgender people. Prior to leading LGBT NGOs, Masen served at United Way of Greater Los Angeles as a Community Investment Officer and Director of Development. Masen has been an activist in the movement for LGBT equality since 1990, when he started his career as a Civil Court Advocate at Chicago’s gay and lesbian center. His research and writings on transgender issues have been published in Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression in Social Work Practice, New Directions in Student Services, and the Seattle Journal for Social Justice. With a penchant for politics, Masen completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2012. Skills include: Leadership, strategic planning, nonprofit management, systems change, advocacy organizations, policy advocacy, strategic communications, public speaking, fund development (including foundation grants, grantwriting, major donors, and individual donors), external relationships, change management, project management, capacity building, fiscal management, board development, and LGBT advocacy.

Davis is a leader in the LGBTQ rights movement. He spent more than twenty years advancing the rights of sexual and gender minorities, including twelve years as executive director of domestic and international NGOs and seven years in foundation grantmaking. A gay, trans man, Davis currently serves as interim executive director of Transgender Europe in Berlin. Davis previously served as CEO of Freedom for All Americans, a bipartisan campaign to secure full nondiscrimination protections in the United States, and as Executive Director of the Transgender Law Center, which grew to become the largest trans NGO under his leadership.

Masen Davis, MSW is the former Executive Director of Transgender Law Center, where he was instrumental to the passage of laws protecting trans and gender non-conforming youth and adults from discrimination and increasing access to healthcare coverage in California and nationwide. Masen currently serves as Co-Director of Global Action for Trans Equality, working internationally on gender identity, gender expression and bodily issues. He is a 2015-16 UCLA Regents’ Lecturer and a proud alumnae of UCLA’s department of social welfare.