Drew Fennell joined ACLU-DE after clerking for the Delaware Court of Chancery. She became our executive director in 2001 at the behest of Judy Mellen, who preceded her. Much of her early tenure dealt with anticipating and then challenging the discriminatory government practices and reactionary civil liberties restrictions that followed the historic September 11th terror attacks. After a highly successful decade with us, Fennell left in 2010. She went on to work as the executive director for Delaware’s Criminal Justice Council and as chief of staff under Delaware Governor Jack Markell. Most recently, Fennell was the chief officer of Strategic Communication and Development at ChristianaCare Health Systems.
Fennell now serves as the Executive Vice President for Social Contract. She is married to Lisa Goodman, the founding president of Equality Delaware, which spearheaded the movement to legalize same-sex marriage in the First State.