Shawna Bader-Blau is Executive Director of the Solidarity Center, the largest U.S.-based organization advancing global worker rights. Since stepping into the role in 2011, she has led a network of more than 200 staff in Washington, D.C. and across dozens of field offices, with programs supporting worker justice in over 60 countries. 
 
Under her leadership, the Solidarity Center has deepened its mission and reach, aligning its work more strongly with the principles of social justice unionism, inclusive democracy, and grassroots power. Over her two decades there, Ms. Bader-Blau has championed the rights of workers to organize, speak out, and influence the decisions that shape their working lives, countries, and communities. She has helped build cross-movement alliances linking labor to broader human rights and development efforts, ensuring that worker voice is central to conversations on democracy, equity, and inclusive economic growth. 
 
Ms. Bader-Blau is a recognized expert in the critical role of unions and labor movements in expanding civic space and advancing grassroots democracy. She speaks at international conferences and has testified before the U.S. Congress and in UN forums on worker and human rights. She was honored as the 2019 Alice B. Grant Labor Leader in Residence at Cornell University’s ILR School. In 2022, she was co-recipient of InterAction’s Julia Vadala Taft Outstanding Leadership Award. She serves on the board of the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. 
 
Ms. Bader-Blau holds degrees from Georgetown University and the University of California, Berkeley.