Planned Parenthood Global Announces Lori Adelman as Permanent Executive Director alongside new Vice President for Latin America
Contact: Media Contact: [email protected]
For Immediate Release: Jan. 10, 2024
Leaders Lori Adelman and Ana Barreto round out all Black women leadership team at Planned Parenthood Global, vow to grow PPG’s influence and double down on its support to brave leaders at a critical moment for global sexual and reproductive health and rights
NEW YORK, NY — Planned Parenthood Global (PPG) is proud to announce the permanent appointment of Lori Adelman as its Executive Director.
This is a return to the organization for Lori, following a prior tenure at PPG as Director of Global Communications nearly a decade ago. After advancing in executive leadership roles at a feminist iNGO and philanthropic institutions, Lori was called back to reproductive health in March 2023 after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, among other geopolitical events. She re-joined PPG as Vice President of the Global Connect Team, and in July transitioned to the role of Acting Executive Director.
“On behalf of the Board and Planned Parenthood’s Executive Team, I would like to express our excitement and delight in welcoming Lori back to Planned Parenthood to lead our global work. Lori’s dynamic career promoting reproductive, racial, and gender justice worldwide make her the ideal person to lead Planned Parenthood Global’s next chapter. We salute the interim leadership of Dawn Laguens who continues her role as Chief of Global Strategy and Innovation at PPFA, and look forward to supporting Lori’s role in helping Planned Parenthood advance freedom, protect rights, and change lives globally,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Lori is a longtime champion of intersectional sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) movements. A passionate and proven visionary, she brings 15+ years of experience and expertise from the global development, media, and feminist philanthropy spaces to shape a new era at PPG. She believes strongly in global feminist solidarity; that the US-based SRHR movement can learn from leaders outside the US; and that keen attunement to power and history across North-South dynamics is critical to working transnationally in 2024 and beyond.
“Serving at PPG in my twenties helped shape my career. Standing on the shoulders of giants such as Latanya Mapp Frett, it is an honor and delight to return to the organization in this new role and be able to give back as the executive leader,” said Lori. “We are in an urgent moment for strengthening the locally led, globally connected movement for sexual and reproductive health and rights, and PPG is well-positioned to rise to the occasion by doubling down on support to brave champions across Africa and Latin America. I’m also incredibly proud to share leadership with Ana Barreto, who has joined the team to lead our Latin America Program.”
Already, Lori has hit the ground running to reimagine and strengthen PPG’s work. At an International Gender Conference in Kigali, Rwanda this summer, she led PPG to announce the Brave Fund, which provides rapid and flexible awards to partners and allies using a trust-based philanthropy model.
Her past experience leading a globally renowned youth program, supporting 700+ young changemakers around the world, will directly inform PPG’s strategy around supporting young people’s leadership and meaningful engagement.
Lori plans to celebrate a new crop of global leaders and champions, engaging a holistic leadership model across PPG. This includes an effort to expand board membership. She will also support synergies across PPG and Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), including continuing to support the organization’s global advocacy work; working closely to embed a global lens within PPFA’s visionary Black Health Equity initiative; and building upon existing affiliate global exchange programs.
Lori will be on parental leave starting mid-January, returning in May.
PPG is also proud to welcome Vice President of Planned Parenthood Global's Latin America Program Ana Barreto, whose tenure began in November. Ana is dedicated to exploring the intersections of reproductive rights, racial justice, structural inequalities and the arts to lead initiatives ensuring that all people, especially people who face barriers to care due to systemic racism and discrimination, live with dignity and fully enjoy their human rights.
As an experienced global connector and feminist, Ana brings a robust intersectional analysis of human rights issues and vast international expertise of grassroots movements and international human rights organizations.
“I am deeply honored to work with PPG, helping promote SRHR to all women and girls in Latin America, especially in communities already facing many societal hurdles including access to care. My vision is that every person in our region lives in safe, dignified, and just communities as this is an integral part of our reproductive freedom."
Lori Adelman [she/her/hers] is the Acting Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Global, the international arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America with regional and country offices in Africa and Latin America. For more than 50 years, Planned Parenthood Global has supported brave activists advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights across the globe. A strategist, advocate, and media maker with 15+ years of experience promoting reproductive, racial, and gender justice, Lori previously ran the communications, brand, and culture team at Global Fund for Women, a feminist fund offering flexible support to more than 5,000 groups across 175 countries and counting, and served as co-Executive Director of Feministing, an award-winning independent blog founded in 2004. (Read about the legacy of Feministing in the New York Times.)
Lori began her career as an intern at Human Rights Watch, and has worked at a host of international non-profits including the United Nations Foundation, Women Deliver, and the International Women’s Health Coalition. In line with her Black feminist values, she loves to make global-to-local connections between the United States and the rest of the world. She helped organize Slutwalk NYC, which brought awareness around issues of slut-shaming, victim-blaming, and gender-based oppression and violence, and later advised American model, rapper and television personality Amber Rose on her version of the event in Los Angeles. She has written for a host of print and digital properties, and speaks regularly including at universities and international fora. She's been named to The Root 100 list of the nation's most influential African Americans, and to the Forbes Magazine list of the "30 Under 30" successful people in media. She currently serves on the board of Reach A Hand Uganda and co-hosts the feminist podcast Cringewatchers. She lives in New York with her husband.
Ana Barreto [she/her/hers] is the Vice President of Planned Parenthood Global's Latin America Program and is an expert in the intersections of race, gender, reproductive justice, and the arts. She has over fifteen years of experience working with international organizations and social movements in several countries in the Americas and Africa.
Ana’s work centers transnational collaborations with social movements, civil society, UN agencies, and international organizations to promote dignity and justice for all people, especially in racialized and excluded communities. She served as a thought leader on human rights issues to different stakeholders, providing strategic vision and guidance, including to WHO, UNFPA, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and the Permanent Forum on People of African descent. She also spoke on reproductive health and rights issues at the UN General Assembly in 2021.
Ana is a Soros Equality Fellow and sits on the board of the White Ribbon Alliance and is considered by the United Nations to be one of the most influential people of African descent in the world.
Born and raised in Brazil, Ana is tri-lingual and fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, and English.