Executive Director and CEO

Louis Clark serves as both Executive Director and CEO of Government Accountability Project. Louis assumed the directorship of Government Accountability Project in 1978, having first served as legal counsel for the organization.

Previously as President of the organization, Louis served as a spokesperson and public ambassador for Government Accountability Project, and frequently negotiated with government and corporate officials about legal cases and social reform initiatives. Louis has frequenly met with international delegations from all over the world in order to describe Government Accountability Project’s methodology, the laws that are needed to protect employees who speak up about problems, and how to use information to promote progressive social change. Louis additionally oversees numerous cases involving widespread financial fraud for Government Accountability Project’s Corporate and Financial Accountability Program.

Louis also regularly provides expert information about occupational free speech issues in academic and non-academic settings, within op-ed columns, and during speaking tours, both domestic and international. He provides strategic advice to all Government Accountability Project programs, hoping to unite whistleblowers with citizens and public interest groups, government leaders, congressional committees, and the media to investigate, expose, and rectify problems.

Louis received his J.D. from the American University in 1977, where he was awarded two honorary fellowships for his work within the clinical program and in the area of prison reform. Prior to becoming an attorney, Louis was a Methodist minister, and his pastoral counseling skills and training significantly influenced his career choices. He received a Masters of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Region and his undergraduate degree from the University of Evansville. From 1966 through the fall of 1968, Louis spent summers and major holidays in Mississippi working for the Delta Ministry, a project of the National Council of Churches. He was also deputy editor of the Hinds County Freedom Democratic Party paper and conducted voter registration in Jackson and rural areas. In 1980, Louis was the first recipient of the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award for Government. In 1992, he received the Gleitsman Award for his life-long commitment to initiating, promoting and implementing positive forms of social change.

Louis Clark
[email protected]
(202) 926-3320