CINCINNATI, OH (November 2, 2018) – The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center has announced the appointment of Rita McNeil Danish, partner with Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP Columbus, to its board of directors.
Ms. McNeil Danish serves those in the corporate community who need assistance navigating public sector organizations that are owned and operated by government entities. She has significant hands-on public and private experience from serving in a variety of roles, including: Judge and Magistrate, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic and Juvenile Divisions; City Attorney for the cities of Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, and Greensboro, N.C.; Vice President of Government Affairs, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber; Section Chief, Civil Rights Division, Ohio Attorney General’s Office; Chief Legal Counsel, Ohio Department of Commerce; and Assistant Deputy Legal Counsel for Governor George V. Voinovich.
“We are honored to have Rita join the board,” says Rev. Damon Lynch, Jr., National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Board Chair. “Her commitment to community paired with her breadth and depth of experience will be a tremendous asset to the organization as we prepare for our 15th anniversary and beyond.”
Ms. McNeil Danish brings her passion to empower economic growth in local communities through diversity and inclusion work with small, women- and minority-owned businesses. She is a member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. (NCBW), a group that advocates on behalf of black women and girls to promote leadership development and gender equity in the areas of health, education and economic empowerment. Ms. McNeil Danish is also a board member for the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), which provides supportive services for abused and neglected children and a member of the board of the Women’s Small Business Accelerator.
“Millions of people around the world fight for the freedom that we take for granted here in the United States,” says McNeil Danish. “The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center plays an important role in educating, inspiring, and providing programming that provokes dialogue and action. It is an honor and privilege to serve on the board.”
Rita graduated cum laude with a Bachelors of Business Administration from Howard University. She received her Juris Doctorate from The Ohio State University College of Law. Rita is admitted to practice law before the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Ohio, the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
To learn more about the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, visit freedomcenter.org.
About National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in August 2004 on the banks of the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. Since then, more than 1.3 million people have visited its permanent and changing exhibits and public programs, inspiring everyone to take courageous steps for freedom. Two million people have utilized educational resources online at
freedomcenter.org, working to connect the lessons of the Underground Railroad to inform and inspire today’s global and local fight for freedom. Partnerships include Historians Against Slavery, Polaris Project, Free the Slaves, US Department of State and International Justice Mission. In 2014, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center launched a new online resource in the fight against modern slavery,
endslaverynow.org.
