Eliza Byard was the executive director of

GLSEN GLSEN (pronounced ''glisten''; formerly the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) is an American education organization working to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expres ...

before stepping down on March 1, 2021. She also previously worked as a filmmaker.

Life

Eliza Byard was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on 8 March 1968. Her mother Rosalie is an

English as a second language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...

teacher at the Kaplan International Center, and her father Paul is an architect and director of

historical preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK), is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

courses at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

's School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. When Eliza was thirteen, she worked as an intern at the New York City public television station WNET. Eliza Byard attended

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

and later Columbia, where she received her master's and doctorate degrees in United States history. In 2004, Byard had a commitment ceremony with her partner,

Eva Kolodner Eva Kolodner is a former independent film producer and co-founder of New York-based Salty Features. Early life and education Eva Marie Kolodner was born c. 1970 to Dorothy M. Chiavetta and Ignace I. Kolodner and grew up in Pittsburgh. Her f ...

, a film producer.

Career

Early in Byard's career she served as the director of development for the

Center for Investigative Reporting The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) is a nonprofit news organization based in Emeryville, California. It was founded in 1977 as the nation’s first nonprofit investigative journalism organization, and has since grown into a multi-platf ...

. In 1996 she became the editor, writer, and co-producer of the film ''Out of the Past'', which was published in 1997. It premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

in 1998, where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary. While working on the film she met

Kevin Jennings Kevin Brett Jennings (born May 8, 1963) is an American educator, author, and administrator. He was the assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education from July 6, 2009 – June 2011. Je ...

, the founder and then executive director of GLSEN. Byard joined GLSEN as deputy executive director in 2001, where she led the development of programs including the national Think B4 You Speak anti-bullying program,

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

ad campaigns, and GLSEN's research and student organization efforts. In 2008 she became the organization's executive director. Byard announced on January 13, 2021 that she would be stepping down as executive director on March 1, 2021. Byard also serves on the board of trustees for

America's Promise Alliance America's Promise Alliance is the nation’s largest cross-sector alliance of nonprofit, community organizations, businesses, and government organization dedicated to improving the lives of young people. The organization was founded on the idea ...

Sodexo Sodexo (formerly Sodexho Alliance) is a French food services and facilities management company headquartered in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux. It has 412,088 employees as of 2021, operates in 55 countries and serves 100 million custome ...

's diversity advisory board, the National Collaboration for Youth steering committee, and the

National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance) is an American suicide prevention organization coordinating national efforts to advance the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP). It is a public/private partnership ...

LGBT suicide task force. She also served on

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

's commission for runaway and homeless children, and was the chair of the board of directors for

Arts Engine Arts Engine is a film organization whose activities include documentary film production, a social-issue film festival and a virtual commons for filmmakers, activists, educators and students to share information. Arts Engine will premiere its eleve ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byard, Eliza 1960s births Living people Businesspeople from New York City Film producers from New York (state) Columbia University alumni Yale University alumni