Washington, DC | www.adc.org | November 5, 2015 – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) thanks Wade Henderson for his strong leadership while serving as President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. After 20 years as head of the Leadership Conference, Wade Henderson announced his plan to step down at the end of 2016.
The Leadership Conference is a diverse coalition of more than 200 civil rights organizations. Henderson joined the Leadership Conference in 1996 after serving as the head of the NAACP’s Washington Bureau and associate director of the ACLU. Under his leadership, the Leadership Conference welcomed the first Arab, Muslim and Sikh civil rights groups, including ADC.
ADC is a proud member of the Leadership Conference Board of Directors, formerly known as the Executive Committee. As head of the Leadership Conference, Henderson made the crucial decision to include ADC on the Leadership Conference Executive Committtee, and thus give the the Arab-American community a strong voice in the coalition of civil rights organizations.
ADC President Samer Khalaf stated, “There are great politicians, and then there are great community leaders. In a town full of politicians, Wade Henderson is truly the quintessential community leader and an inspiring human rights advocate. It takes a special type of leader to unite such a diverse coalition of organizations, and I can’t see anyone doing it better than Wade. He always had the fortitude to ensure that everyone, including Arab-Americans, had a voice in the coalition of civil rights organizations.”