ACLU of Florida Appoints Keisha Mulfort as Inaugural Deputy Executive Director and Strategy Officer

MIAMI, FL – The ACLU of Florida today announced the appointment of Keisha Mulfort as the organization’s inaugural Deputy Executive Director and Strategy Officer (DEDSO). In this newly created executive leadership role, Mulfort will serve as a strategic partner and trusted advisor to Executive Director Bacardi Jackson, driving strategic alignment, operational excellence, and mission execution across the organization.

As Florida remains a frontline state for civil liberties – with sustained attacks on voting rights, immigrants’ rights, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and First Amendment protections – the Florida affiliate created this role to build the executive infrastructure necessary to meet the demands of this moment. Mulfort will oversee cross-functional integration, strategic planning and execution, board governance, and the organization’s growing presence in Central Florida and across the state.
“We are in the greatest fight for civil rights and civil liberties of our generation – and I will say that plainly, because it is true. A fight of this magnitude demands not just courage, but organizational strength – the kind that is built deliberately, from the inside out,” said Bacardi Jackson, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida.

“Keisha understands that. She has been in the room during some of our hardest moments. She has seen what this work actually costs, and she has never flinched from it. She brings legal training, strategic discipline, and an operational mind that this organization needs at this level of leadership. But more than that, she brings an understanding that the rights we are fighting for belong to real people – people in our communities, people whose lives are directly shaped by the outcomes of this work. That is the foundation of genuine civil liberties leadership, and Keisha has it. I am proud to have her as my partner, and I have no doubt that the ACLU of Florida will be stronger because she is in this role.”

Mulfort joined the ACLU of Florida in May 2024 as a Senior Communications Strategist and most recently served as Deputy Director of Communications. In that role, she functioned as a senior operational and strategic partner to executive leadership – translating organizational priorities into integrated strategies, designing internal coordination systems, and providing analytical and crisis support during some of the affiliate’s highest-stakes legal and advocacy moments. She played a central role in the organization’s statewide communications for Amendment 4, Florida’s reproductive freedom initiative, and served as a public spokesperson during the organization’s challenge to the DeSantis administration’s misuse of taxpayer dollars to mislead Florida voters.

Before joining the ACLU of Florida, Mulfort built a career defined by entering demanding environments and raising the standard at every stop. As a College and Career Specialist and Educator, she helped guide students to some of the top universities in the nation, developing programming that expanded access and opportunity for young people in Orange County. She carried that same commitment to the Ninth Judicial Circuit’s State Attorney’s Office – one of the largest prosecutor’s offices in the state of Florida – where she served as Chief of Staff and Director of Public Affairs, launched first-of-its-kind initiatives, and built systems of accountability for a circuit serving more than 1.5 million people.

“Few people get to work at the intersection of their passions – and fewer get to do it at the exact moment when that work matters most. For me, it has always been about two things: building something that actually works, and doing it in service of the freedoms that belong to every person; not as a privilege, but as a right,” said Keisha Mulfort, incoming Deputy Executive Director and Strategy Officer. “Make no mistake: what is happening in Florida is not normal. To name it clearly is an act of courage. To build the organizational strength to fight it – relentlessly, strategically, and for the long haul – is the work ahead. I am committed to ensuring that the rights and freedoms the Constitution promises are not just an ideal we aspire to, but a reality we deliver for all people. I am honored to stand in this fight, alongside Executive Director Jackson, our extraordinary team, and every person who refuses to accept what is happening in this state and this country, as normal.”

Mulfort holds a Juris Doctorate from Florida A&M University College of Law, a Master of Science in Sport Management from PennWest California University, and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Political Science from Fayetteville State University.

A committed civic leader and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Mulfort currently serves as President of the Virgil Hawkins Florida Chapter National Bar Association Foundation, as Board Chair of The PLUG 4 Connection, an educational nonprofit connecting students in Orange County to college and career pathways, and as a member of the Orange County Affordable Housing Advisory Board. She has served as a board member across a host of nonprofits and civic engagement organizations throughout her career, reflecting the values she brings to her work every day, and is based in Orlando, Florida.

About the ACLU of Florida
The ACLU of Florida is freedom's watchdog, working daily in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend individual rights and personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For additional information, visit our web site at: www.aclufl.org