Open Communities Alliance is pleased to announce that Constance L. Royster has joined its Board of Directors.
Ms. Royster is currently a senior partner at Ideas for Action, LLC, a national management consulting firm. Prior to this, she served as the director of development at Yale Divinity School, following five years as associate director of development at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and two years as the first director of major giving at the WSHU National Public Radio Group in Fairfield, CT. A member of the Yale College Class of 1972, she was part of the first group of women undergraduates at Yale. Ms. Royster is a trained lawyer and had a legal career that spanned two decades after graduating from Rutgers Law School. She was the founding and managing partner of the law firm Cooper, Liebowitz, Royster & Wright (one of the nation's largest women/minorities law firms) with offices in New York and Connecticut. Ms. Royster is deeply committed to civic responsibility and has been entrusted with leadership positions at numerous local, national, and international organizations. In addition to Open Communities Alliance, the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven’s Fund for Women and Girls, Federal Bar Council, Yale Alumni Fund, International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Dwight Hall at Yale Center for Public Service and Social Justice are but a few of the boards that have benefited from her wisdom. She is a strong advocate for education, culture, equity, and for the rights of women and children.
Beyond her impressive career accomplishments, Ms. Royster brings to OCA her family’s deep civil rights legacy. Ms. Royster’s aunt, Constance Baker Motley, was the first black female federal judge, and participated in drafting the complaint in Brown v. Board of Education, working closely with Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Ms. Royster and her extended family remain committed supporters of civil rights and social justice issues.
Please help us welcome Constance Royster to the OCA family!