Ward Connerly

Ward Connerly

Wardell Anthony "Ward" Connerly (born June 15, 1939) is an American political activist, businessman, and former University of California Regent (1993–2005). He is also the founder and the chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, a national non-profit organization in opposition to racial and gender preferences. He is considered to be the man behind California's Proposition 209 prohibiting race- and gender-based preferences in state hiring, contracting and state university admissions, a program formerly widely known as affirmative action.