Freedom to Marry Action Board of Directors

Stanback

Anne Stanback | Chair

Anne Stanback was the founding Executive Director of Love Makes A Family (LMF), the lead organization that successfully fought for the freedom to marry in Connecticut. She has spent over 25 years working for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights. She served as the statewide Co-Director of the Connecticut Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights during the passage of the state's "gay rights law" in 1991, which prohibited discrimination in employment, housing, credit and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation.
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Dorf

Julie Dorf | Treasurer

Julie Dorf has been a leader in the LGBT rights movement for twenty years. Julie founded and directed the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) from 1990 to 2000, creating an organization that protects and advances the human rights of all people and communities subjected to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status.
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Cox

Barbara Cox | Secretary

Barbara Cox began teaching at California Western School of Law in 1987, after four years with a joint appointment in the Law School and the Women's Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at California Western from July 1997 through December 2001.
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Coburn

Rob Coburn | Member At-Large

Rob Coburn is a business executive and an advisor on strategy and communications to corporations in the financial and charitable sectors. Since 2004, Mr. Coburn has held senior management roles in the institutional asset management industry, serving as Chief Operating Officer of Baker Brothers Investments, and before that Director of Investor Relations & Communications for Atticus Capital. From 2000 to 2004, he directed strategy and marketing for Magnet Communications, the national public relations arm of Havas, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Coburn spent a decade in corporate finance at JPMorgan/ Chase.
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Press

Adam Press | Member At-Large

Adam Press is an active investor, art collector and philanthropist. From 1992-2010 He served as Chairman & CEO of The St. John Companies, Inc. From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Press served as the Director of Equity Investments for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group (TBG) in Monte Carlo and prior to this, worked in the New York corporate finance department of PaineWebber from 1986 to 1989. He holds a BA from Colorado College and an MBA from Columbia University. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Colorado College and on the Board of Jewish Vocational Services of Los Angeles.
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Anne Stanback

Anne Stanback was the founding Executive Director of Love Makes A Family (LMF), the lead organization that successfully fought for the freedom to marry in Connecticut. She has spent over 25 years working for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights. She served as the statewide Co-Director of the Connecticut Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights during the passage of the state's "gay rights law" in 1991, which prohibited discrimination in employment, housing, credit and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation.

Prior to her involvement with Love Makes a Family, Anne was the Executive Director of the Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF). She has also served as the Executive Director of the Connecticut affiliate of the National Abortion Rights Action League (CT NARAL) and as the Assistant Director of INFOLINE of South Central Connecticut where she worked on child care and maternal and child health issues.

Anne has received numerous awards for her work on behalf of women and the LGBT community including: the Harriet Tubman Award for Achievement in the Pursuit of Social Justice from the National Organization for Women (CT NOW), 2002; Community Activism Award from Region 9A of the UAW, 2005; Distinguished Leadership Award, American Friends Service Committee, 2005; Women Making a Difference Award from the National Council of Jewish Women, Greater Hartford Chapter, 2005; Maria Miller Stewart Award from Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund, 2005; Dorothy Award from the New Haven Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 2006; Public Citizen of the Year from NASW/CT, 2006; Polaris Award from Leadership Greater Hartford, 2009; Distinguished Service Award from Connecticut Latina/os Achieving Rights and Opportunities (CLARO), 2010.

In 2006, Anne was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame for her work to advance the rights of women and the lesbian and gay community.

Anne is actively involved with Immanuel Congregational Church (UCC) in Hartford. She is a graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina and Yale Divinity School. She lives in Avon, Connecticut with her partner — now wife — of 26 years, Charlotte Kinlock.

Julie Dorf

Julie Dorf has been a leader in the LGBT rights movement for twenty years. Julie founded and directed the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) from 1990 to 2000, creating an organization that protects and advances the human rights of all people and communities subjected to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status.

In the past decade, Ms. Dorf has worked in philanthropy, serving as the Director of Philanthropic Services for Horizons Foundation, a foundation serving the Bay Area's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community; and as Vice President of the Vanguard Public Foundation. She has extensive experience providing philanthropic advice to individual donors, legacy planning, and donor education.

As an independent consultant, Ms. Dorf has worked for Open Society Institute, Global Fund for Women, Arcus Foundation, and Fenton Communications/J-Street Project. Ms. Dorf currently serves on the board of directors or advisory boards of Human Rights Watch's Women's Rights Division, Human Rights Watch's LGBT Rights Program, Gender PAC, IGLHRC, and PowerPAC.

She holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Russian and Soviet Studies. Ms. Dorf has written, spoken, and advocated extensively on social justice issues ranging from reparations for gay victims of the Nazis, Jewish-Palestinian relations, and marriage equality. She lives in San Francisco with her partner Jenni Olson, and their two girls Hazel and Sylvie.

Barbara Cox

Barbara Cox began teaching at California Western School of Law in 1987, after four years with a joint appointment in the Law School and the Women's Studies Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at California Western from July 1997 through December 2001. She is the past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Gay and Lesbian Legal Issues, is Chair of the A.A.L.S. Section on Women in Legal Education, and served on an AALS taskforce on the problems of preventing sexual orientation discrimination in religiously-affiliated law schools. From 1984-1987, she was co-chair of the Madison, WI, Taskforce on Alternative family rights which drafted the city's domestic partnership ordinance (one of the first in the nation), and she helped obtain domestic partner health insurance benefits at CWSL. She has authored briefs for national gay rights organizations on family law issues.

Barb has published numerous articles or book chapters on various issues concerning marriages of same-sex couples and questions of interstate recognition by state courts, and has spoken on the topic across the country. She edited a book manuscript for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, analyzing choice-of-law issues for all fifty states concerning recognition of marriages by same-sex couples. She was a member of the San Diego steering committee for the No on Knight/Proposition 22 campaign.

Barb has been out as a lesbian since 1976. On July 18, 2003, Barb and her partner of over twelve years were married at the Metropolitan Community Church in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Rob Coburn

Rob Coburn is a business executive and an advisor on strategy and communications to corporations in the financial and charitable sectors. Since 2004, Mr. Coburn has held senior management roles in the institutional asset management industry, serving as Chief Operating Officer of Baker Brothers Investments, and before that Director of Investor Relations & Communications for Atticus Capital. From 2000 to 2004, he directed strategy and marketing for Magnet Communications, the national public relations arm of Havas, Inc. Prior to that, Mr. Coburn spent a decade in corporate finance at JPMorgan/ Chase.

Mr. Coburn has been a longstanding Board Member of Musica Viva of New York, a classical music concert organization, as well as the Madoo Conservancy, a garden conservancy in eastern Long Island. He previously served as Treasurer and Trustee of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in Manhattan.

A native of greater Boston, an avid cook and gardener, and a proud uncle and godfather, Mr. Coburn lives with his partner, Averitt Buttry, in New York. He holds a BA in Government from Harvard College and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Wharton.

Adam Press

Adam Press is an active investor, art collector and philanthropist. From 1992-2010 He served as Chairman & CEO of The St. John Companies, Inc. From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Press served as the Director of Equity Investments for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group (TBG) in Monte Carlo and prior to this, worked in the New York corporate finance department of PaineWebber from 1986 to 1989. He holds a BA from Colorado College and an MBA from Columbia University. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Colorado College and on the Board of Jewish Vocational Services of Los Angeles.