John F. Kowal

Prior to joining the Ford Foundation in 2008, Mr. Kowal spent a decade at the Open Society Institute, where he served most recently as director of Constitutional Democracy Initiatives.
He created and led a number of initiatives at OSI including programs to support the independence of the judiciary, the advancement of a progressive vision of U.S.
constitutional law, transparency and integrity in government institutions, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
He has also served on the steering committees of three foundation affinity groups: the International Human Rights Funders Group, the Human Rights in the U.S.
Working Group and the Civil Marriage Collaborative.
Previously, he was a litigation attorney at the New York firms of Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Schulte Roth & Zabel, where he handled a wide range of civil and regulatory cases.
Mr. Kowa received a J.D.
degree from Harvard Law School and his bachelor's degree in political science from New York University, where he was a Presidential Scholar.