Louis Clark serves as both President and Corporate & Financial Accountability Director of GAP. Louis assumed the directorship of GAP in 1978, having first served as legal counsel for the organization.
As President, Louis serves as a spokesperson and public ambassador for GAP, and frequently negotiates with government and corporate officials about legal cases and social reform initiatives. Louis often meets with international delegations from all over the world in order to describe GAP's methodology, the laws that are needed to protect employees who speak up about problems, and how to use information to promote progressive social change. In his role as Corporate & Financial Accountability Director, Louis overseees numerous cases involving widespread financial fraud.
Louis also regularly provides expert information about occupational free speech issues in academic and nonacademic settings, within op-ed columns, and during speaking tours, both domestic and international. He provides strategic advice to all GAP programs, hoping to unite whistleblowers with citizens and public interest groups, government leaders, congressional committees, and the media to investigate, expose, and rectify problems..
Louis received his J.D. from the American University in 1977, where he was awarded two honorary fellowships for his work within the clinical program and in the area of prison reform. Prior to becoming an attorney, Louis was a Methodist minister, and his pastoral counseling skills and training significantly influenced his career choices. He received a Masters of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Region and his undergraduate degree from the University of Evansville. From 1966 through the fall of 1968, Louis spent summers and major holidays in Mississippi working for the Delta Ministry, a project of the National Council of Churches. He was also deputy editor of the Hinds County Freedom Democratic Party paper and conducted voter registration in Jackson and rural areas. In 1980, Louis was the first recipient of the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award for Government. In 1992, he received the Gleitsman Award for his life-long commitment to initiating, promoting and implementing positive forms of social change.
