American Oversight Announces Chioma Chukwu as Interim Executive Director

Today, American Oversight announced that after nearly two years as the organization’s Executive Director, Heather Sawyer will be leaving this month for a new opportunity. The organization’s Deputy Executive Director, Chioma Chukwu, will step into the role of Interim Executive Director. Chukwu, a highly respected civil rights lawyer and government transparency advocate, has played a pivotal role in shaping and advancing American Oversight’s mission and strategic priorities over the last year and will build on that work in her new role.

“I am honored and excited to move into this new role at a time when our democracy needs defending the most,” said Interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu. “I am deeply thankful to Heather for her steadfast leadership and commitment to American Oversight’s unique role in the pro-democracy ecosystem. I look forward to leading a team with unmatched public records expertise and advancing our key priorities alongside our partners.”

“I am proud of the American Oversight team and the work we’ve done to spotlight efforts to undermine democracy and to make sure the American people have access to the truth,” said Heather Sawyer, outgoing Executive Director of American Oversight. “It’s been my honor to work alongside Chioma this past year and I’m confident that American Oversight will continue to thrive under her leadership.”

“We are deeply grateful for Heather’s service and thrilled that Chioma is stepping into the Interim Executive Director role at this critical moment for our democracy,” said Dominique Bravo, American Oversight Board President. “We wish Heather success as she enters a new chapter of her career and look forward to working with Chioma to build on American Oversight’s critical work in the months ahead.”

About Chioma Chukwu

Chioma Chukwu joined American Oversight as Deputy Executive Director in July 2023 after serving on the senior management team of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, where, as General Counsel, she coordinated and advanced the committee’s oversight and investigative agenda. Prior to becoming General Counsel, she served as a senior adviser to the late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, who chaired the committee.

Previously, Chukwu was a senior trial attorney at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where she litigated individual and systemic actions involving violations of anti-discrimination employment laws. Prior to her time at the EEOC, Chukwu was staff counsel for the California Civil Rights Department, the largest civil rights agency in the United States, and worked in the San Francisco office of Sanford Heisler LLP, a national public interest law firm.

Chukwu is transitioning into the Interim Executive Director role on the heels of several impactful lawsuits and robust oversight work, and as the organization expands its investigations into looming threats to our democracy.

A few examples from recent American Oversight work include:

• Halted the Politically Influenced Impeachment of a Newly Elected State Supreme Court Justice. When Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announced the creation of a secret panel to advise him on impeaching Justice Janet Protasiewicz, American Oversight sprang to action. The organization’s strategic and aggressive litigation resulted in an important victory: the revelation that two of Speaker Vos’s three secret panelists — former Supreme Court Justices David Prosser and Jon Wilcox — advised Speaker Vos there is no legitimate basis for impeaching Justice Protasiewicz. Consequently, Justice Protasiewicz remains on the bench and will participate in cases of critical importance to democracy, including redistricting, abortion, rules for voting in 2024, and school choice.

• Exposed the Partisan and Anti-Voter Motives Behind ERIC Withdrawals. American Oversight investigated the election denial movement’s aggressive campaign to dismantle the Electronic Registration Information Center, a leading tool for ensuring accurate voter lists. The investigation resulted in the in-depth report “The Campaign to Dismantle ERIC,” published in December 2023, which detailed how the same people who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election worked behind the scenes to influence the ERIC exodus in conservative-led states, laying the groundwork for more false claims of widespread voter fraud and intensified voter-purge efforts as part of a continued effort to undermine U.S. democracy.
• Exposed North Carolina Lt. Governor’s Extreme Anti-Abortion Communications. Records obtained by American Oversight revealed that North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, communicated with the anti-abortion group N.C. Values Coalition about his support for legislation to ban abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, and received sample legislation from them as well as advice about which lawmakers he should pressure to support the ban.