JANM’s Burroughs Elected Chair of Amnesty International’s Global Council

JANM President and CEO Ann Burroughs with Yae Aihara, a 25-year volunteer at the museum and recipient of the 2017 Miki Tanimura Outstanding Volunteer Award, in the Nisei Week Grand Parade on Aug. 12. (J.K. YAMAMOTO/Rafu Shimpo)

Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum, has been named chair of Amnesty International’s Global Council, the organization’s highest decision-making body that brings together human rights leaders from over 70 countries.

“Ann has been a transformative leader of the Japanese American National Museum since joining us 2016,” said former Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, chair of the JANM Board of Trustees. “She has long been involved with Amnesty International, and I’m very proud that as JANM’s president and CEO, she has now been named to such a prestigious post with another important organization devoted to social justice — a subject that is at the very core of what the museum explores and presents.”

As a young anti-apartheid activist in her native South Africa, Burroughs was jailed as a political prisoner and Amnesty International came to her aid and helped secure her freedom. She later joined the organization as member of its staff and went on to hold a number of leadership positions in it. She is the immediate past chair of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA.

Burroughs was named president and CEO of JANM in March 2017, after having served in those roles in an interim capacity since June 2016.