Executive Director

The Train Foundation, which annually awards the Civil Courage Prize (CCP), is dedicated to recognizing and celebrating extraordinary acts of civil courage in the face of great evil. Founded over 25 years ago by John Train, a friend and ally of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Prize honors individuals who have taken principled stands at great personal risk, defended democratic values, and protected others in the face of injustice.

Instead of naming and shaming perpetrators, the CCP seeks to "name and fame" inspiring examples of civil courage.

At this pivotal moment, the Foundation is embarking on an ambitious program of expanded public engagement. This is an exciting and unusual opportunity to help lead the expansion of a respected organization with a strong reputation into its next, more robust phase. The organization is deepening its reach through a curated series of substantive events ("symposia") designed to promote the concept of civil courage to new and influential audiences.

With the board, the Executive Director will be the architect and driver of that expansion and ideally will create a sustainable organization which will continue to have impact long into the future.

Position Overview

The Foundation seeks a full-time Executive Director with exceptional skills in high-level event production, network cultivation, and donor engagement. This requires a person who knows how to convene influential people around powerful ideas, who moves comfortably among diplomats, editors, foundation officers, journalists, and philanthropists, and who can produce substantive events that leave participants inspired and connected.

The mission of the Train Foundation is to promote civil courage worldwide, and the Executive Director must also have a sophisticated understanding of rule-of-law, human rights, and democracy issues relevant for being a visible interlocutor and occasional spokesperson for the Civil Courage Prize.

The central initiative is a major anniversary event (planned for early Fall, 2027). Additionally, throughout the year, the ED will organize a series of "Symposia" leading to the award ceremony. Various Board members will host intimate gatherings at their home or a comparable venue featuring a former Civil Courage Prize laureate, a compelling figure who embodies civil courage, or a thought leader in this field for substantive conversations.

The Executive Director will design, coordinate, staff, and follow up on each event, and will manage the capital campaign conversation that naturally follows.

The ED reports directly to the Board of Directors and works in close collaboration with board members.

• Exercise strategic leadership for all aspects of the events program, from content, to invitation lists, to logistics. The ED must understand and own the role of developing the prize and the symposia in terms of norm diffusion, promoting democratic values, donor development, and network building.
• Chart the Foundation's strategic direction in close collaboration with the Board of Directors, with particular responsibility for developing and executing board-approved strategies for promoting civil courage worldwide, including a deep understanding of these issues in contemporary global affairs.
• Prepare professional materials that enable efficient, well-informed Board decision-making: event proposals, post-event reports, budget updates, donor pipeline reviews, and strategic recommendations.
• Support the Foundation's Young Leaders program, which is designed to bring the next generation of civil courage advocates into the Prize's orbit as future Board members and supporters.
• Develop impact measurements for the event program, including audience composition, follow-on relationships, media coverage, and donor conversion, to enable evidence-based strategic decisions.

• Cultivate and maintain relationships with a selection of former laureates.
• Map, develop, and manage the Foundation's network of diplomats, journalists, editors, NGO leaders, foundation officers, and scholars, the epistemic community the Prize needs to influence.
• Build relationships with peer organizations (including Front Line Defenders, the Martin Ennals Award, the Oslo Freedom Forum, RFK Human Rights, and the Meta/Facebook Civil Courage initiative) and identify opportunities for collaboration and joint programming.
• Represent the Foundation at external events, conferences, and convenings relevant to human rights, civil courage, and democratic norms.

• Design and manage the full calendar of Foundation events, including the Board Symposia series, donor cultivation gatherings, and the 2027 anniversary event.
• Produce the 2027 Anniversary Event: full-day programming, speaker coordination, guest management, press logistics, patron lunch, and award ceremony.
• Work directly with each Board member to plan, script, and staff their individual salon-like event/Symposium:…