Ford Foundation Promotes Rebecca Cokley to Program Director for U.S. Disability Rights

NEW YORK - The Ford Foundation today announced the appointment of Rebecca Cokley as the inaugural program director of its U.S. Disability Rights (USDR) program. Cokley, who joined the foundation as the first-ever program officer for the USDR portfolio in 2021, has successfully steered the foundation's historic investments in disability rights. She assumed this role in June 2026.

"Through her deep expertise and intentional collaboration with the disability field, Rebecca has fundamentally shifted how philanthropy engages with disability rights and justice, ensuring they are recognized as a critical cornerstone of the broader fight against inequality," said Sarita Gupta, vice president of U.S. Programs at the Ford Foundation. "This promotion is a well-deserved recognition of her exceptional leadership and the groundbreaking work she has done to build our U.S. Disability Rights program from the ground up."

Since joining Ford, Cokley has pioneered the foundation's commitment to disability rights, successfully moving more than $100 million directly to disability rights and justice movements. In addition to her program portfolio, she serves as the interim co-chair of Ford's Native American Working Group and is an active member of the Economic Policy Collaborative.

"I am incredibly proud of what we have built alongside our grantee partners and fellow funders who are on the frontlines every day," said Rebecca Cokley, director of the U.S. Disability Rights program at the Ford Foundation. "Establishing this program has been a deeply collaborative effort to ensure the power, dignity, and voices of disabled people are structurally recognized and supported. I am honored to step into this role as we continue to anchor this vital work within the foundation."

Prior to joining the Ford Foundation, Cokley built a distinguished career spanning government, advocacy, and public policy. She was the cofounder and director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress, where she steered a landmark campaign that resulted in an unprecedented 12 presidential candidates developing disability policy platforms during the 2020 election cycle. Her leadership also drove prominent national campaigns to protect the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), SNAP, and Medicaid.

A three-time presidential appointee, Cokley served in key policy roles at the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and oversaw diversity and inclusion efforts for the White House. Additionally, she served as the executive director for the National Council on Disability for four years.

Cokley is a highly sought-after public speaker and writer who has given a TedX talk and spoken at Netroots Nation, New York Comic Con, Yale University, and the Women's March National Conference. Her commentary has been published in The Nation, Rewire, CNN, Refinery 29, and The Washington Post, and she has appeared as a guest on MSNBC and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. A collection she contributed to on "the talk" for the Emancipator won an Edward R. Murrow award in 2023.

Cokley sits on the board of directors for the Rockwood Leadership Institute and the New York Women's Foundation. She also lends her expertise as an Equity Advisory Board member for Sephora and as an advisory board member for Paid Leave for All and Emerge. She holds a bachelor's degree in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she was honored as a Karl S. Pister Scholar.