Joe Solmonese is a political strategist and activist who served as president of the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...

of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and its affiliate the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. He was appointed to this position on March 9, 2005, replacing Cheryl Jacques. A native of

Attleboro, Massachusetts Attleboro is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It was once known as "The Jewelry Capital of the World" for its many jewelry manufacturers. According to the 2020 census, Attleboro had a population of 46,461. Attleboro is ...

, Solmonese lives in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He graduated from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in communications. Solmonese is the former Chief Executive Officer of

EMILY's List EMILYs List is a left-leaning American political action committee (PAC) that aims to help elect Democratic female candidates in favor of abortion rights to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1985. The group's name is an acronym for "E ...

, where he oversaw one of the nation's prominent

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

Democratic

political action committees In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The le ...

, including its Political Opportunity Program. Solmonese has worked for numerous campaigns and in government positions. He held top fundraising positions at the 1992

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

campaign of Les AuCoin and

Barney Frank Barnett Frank (born March 31, 1940) is a retired American politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Frank served as chairman of th ...

's 1990

Congressional A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ad ...

campaign. Solmonese began his career as an aide in the office of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

governor

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis ( ; born November 3, 1933) is an American politician and lawyer who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the s ...

. Solmonese hosted ''The Agenda with Joe Solmonese'' on

XM Satellite Radio XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable ...

. In February 2008, Solmonese appeared on two episodes of ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...

''. On August 27, 2011, the Human Rights Campaign announced that Solomonese would step down as president of HRC on March 31, 2012. On February 22, 2012, the Obama 2012 campaign announced the appointment of Solmonese as one of 35 national co-chairs of the campaign. Chad Griffin succeeded Solmonese as president of HRC on June 11, 2012. On April 17, 2012, Solmonese helped establish the corporate consulting firm Gavin/Solmonese as a managing director and founding partner, leading the firm's Washington, D.C., office. Joe leads the firm's Corporate Strategy, Public Affairs and Policy practice, where he advises corporations on organizational effectiveness strategies and policy development and implementation. Solmonese was the CEO of the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtual ...

References

External links

Joe Solmonese HRC ProfileMetro Weekly interview series
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solmonese, Joe American chief executives Boston University College of Communication alumni American LGBTQ rights activists Living people People from Attleboro, Massachusetts Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American LGBTQ people