Kenneth H. Zimmerman directs the Open Society Foundations’ U.S. Programs. A lawyer with more than two decades of leadership in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, he has devoted his career to justice and equality, focusing on access to opportunity for people of color and low- income communities.
Prior to Open Society, he was a litigation partner heading the pro bono practice group at Lowenstein Sandler PC. He was on the presidential transition team preparing the Obama Administration’s strategy for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was also chief counsel to New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine (2006–2008) and the first executive director of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
Zimmerman began his career as a legal services lawyer in Oakland, California, and a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. He received his BA from Yale University and JD from Harvard Law School, both magna cum laude.