About

Leadership

Barbara Lee
Founder & President

Adrienne Kimmell
Executive Director

Barbara Lee, Founder and President

Barbara Lee is a national leader in advancing women’s equality in American politics. She founded and leads the Barbara Lee Political Office and the Barbara Lee Family Foundation.

Inspired by her grandmother’s stories of suffragists marching on New York City’s Fifth Avenue in the early 1900s, Barbara has worked to elect women since 1998.

Today, through strategic advice, candidate training, direct support, and voter mobilization, Barbara has helped elect every sitting Democratic woman governor and U.S. Senator. Through the Foundation’s nonpartisan Governors research, she gives women candidates at all levels essential tools to meet the challenges of campaigning.

With an exceptional eye for emerging leadership, Barbara also works to cultivate the next generation of women candidates. She serves as Advisory Council Chair for Emerge Massachusetts, an intensive political training program for Democratic women and a program Barbara brought to the Commonwealth. Through the Foundation, Barbara has endowed a nonpartisan training program for women at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and an internship program at the Massachusetts State House for Simmons College students.

Barbara also organizes blockbuster events to raise the profile of women elected officials and candidates. Revolutionary Women, held in conjunction with the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, convened many of the nation’s best and brightest political minds to showcase women’s leadership. Women’s Senate, a biennial fundraiser, provides critical support for progressive women Senators.

Boston Magazine has included Barbara among “The 100 People Who Run This Town” and she is listed among their 50 most powerful people in Boston. Women’s eNews ranks her among the “21 Leaders for the 21st Century.”

An advocate for Boston’s cultural life and advancing women’s representation in contemporary art, Barbara is Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. She earned a master’s degree from the Boston University School of Social Work and her bachelor’s degree from Simmons College.

Board memberships

Advisory Council Chair, Emerge Massachusetts
Vice Chair, Institute for Contemporary Art Boston
Board member, No Limits Foundation
Member, Women’s Leadership Board of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government

Select awards

Abigail Adams Award, Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, 2002
President’s Award, NACW, 3rd Annual National Convention, 2002
George A. Dean Leadership Award, The Women’s Campaign School at Yale, 2003
Academy of Women Achievers, Class of 2002, YWCA Boston, 2002
Circle of Giving Award, New England Womens Leadership Awards, 2006
Leader for the 21st Centry, Women’s eNews, 2009
The “Wendy” Shattered Glass Award, Women’s Campaign Forum, 2010
“Woman of Action” Award, Boston Women’s Fund, 2010

Adrienne Kimmell, Executive Director

Adrienne Kimmell is a political strategist and policy expert who has dedicated her career to empowering and advocating for women. As Political Director, Adrienne leads the Political Office’s efforts to engage women in the political process and to support progressive, pro-choice, pro-equality women candidates and political organizations across the country.

With experience on a broad range of national and local campaigns, Adrienne brings keen political and strategic insight to our work advancing women’s political equality.

A career advocate for reproductive justice, Adrienne served as the executive director of the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates and the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, where she led Planned Parenthood in advancing their public policy agenda through legislation, organizing, and electoral work.

Before her work in Florida, Adrienne managed state policy initiatives for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in Washington, DC, designing model laws and policies and developing legislative strategy to advance reproductive justice at the state and local level. In earlier work with the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Adrienne developed and implemented state and national political and electoral strategy. She began her career as a grassroots organizer and, later, a lobbyist for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.

Adrienne is a board member of Emerge Massachusetts, a political training program for Democratic women candidates. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University and a Master’s degree in public policy from Tufts University.

Board memberships

Board Member, Emerge Massachusetts