Skye Perryman

Named one of the Time 100’s 2025 100 Most Influential People In The World, as well as one of The NonProfit Times’s Power & Influence Top 50 and their 2025 Influencer of the Year, Skye Perryman is the President & CEO of Democracy Forward, a nonpartisan, national legal organization that promotes democracy and progress through litigation, regulatory engagement, policy education, and research. 

Under Perryman’s leadership, Democracy Forward has played a leading role in protecting the American people from harmful federal executive action, including stopping the freeze on federal funding and essential services, opposing efforts to undermine diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, opposing dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, protecting funding for libraries and museums, and blocking attempts to withhold federal funds from colleges and universities. The organization has filed hundreds of legal actions, and, through its Democracy2025 initiative, organized the largest, most successful affirmative litigation effort against executive branch excesses in United States history. Its work to advance democracy at the state and local level is also nationally recognized.

A proud product of K-12 public schools, Perryman holds a BA in Economics and Philosophy magna cum laude from Baylor University where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and a JD with honors from the Georgetown University Law Center. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Pursuit of Justice by the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown University Law Center and has been named an Outstanding Young Alumni by the Baylor Line Foundation.