1. Robyn Ellen Blumner was born on May 14,1961 and is an American attorney, civil rights expert and the current president and chief executive officer of the secular educational organization Center for Inquiry and executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.
Robyn Blumner holds a JD degree and worked for several years as director of local affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union advocating for civil liberties and civil rights before becoming a newspaper columnist and editorial writer in Florida.
Robyn Blumner's parents were teachers and politically active union members, her mother being a registered Democrat, her father being an independent voter who occasionally voted Republican.
Robyn Blumner's grandmother had been awarded a law degree but had not practised, as women in those days were unable to obtain an apprenticeship to practice law.
Robyn Blumner was raised in Glen Cove, Long Island, and became interested in politics from a young age, leafleting for Senator George McGovern during his 1972 presidential campaign and organizing the Young Democrats while at school.
Around the same time, Robyn Blumner first became active as a volunteer in the American Civil Liberties Union where she became absorbed by The Reproductive Freedom Project and soon decided that civil liberties was a field she wanted to pursue.
From 1987, Robyn Blumner held the position of executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union In Utah where she frequently acted as spokesperson on topics such as freedom of speech and abortion rights.
From 1998 to 2014, Robyn Blumner was an opinion writer for the Tampa Bay Times, was syndicated in papers across the country and is described as a columnist and editorial writer.
In 2012 Robyn Blumner, along with John Hill, Joni James and Tim Nickens, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for their work at the Tampa Bay Times in conducting an extensive investigation of a state governor and the effects of his inexperience on the state.
Robyn Blumner is an author and contributor to several publications, including Center for Inquiry in association with the Council for Secular Humanism and Time magazine in her capacity as CEO and president of CFI, and for her experience in civil liberties.
Robyn Blumner has contributed essays and forewords to several published works by other authors.
In February 2014, Robyn Blumner joined the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science as executive director, replacing interim director Edwina Rogers who in 2013 had been director of the Secular Coalition for America when it and RDFRS formed a partnership.
Robyn Blumner regularly speaks at science education, secular and atheist conferences including CSICon, Reason Rally, Apostacon and DLD.
In 2016, as president of the Center for Inquiry, Robyn Blumner championed a new global initiative called Secular Rescue which aims to protect and provide emergency support to non-believers, atheists and apostates, if necessary giving them an escape route from violence and death threats as well as diplomatic and legal assistance.
Robyn Blumner describes herself as an atheist, a secularist and a liberal.