We’re delighted to announce Maury Giles as the next CEO of Braver Angels.
Let us tell you a bit more about Maury and how we arrived at this exciting decision.
In March 2025, David Blankenhorn announced he was stepping down as President of Braver Angels after co-founding and leading our organization for nearly a decade.
Weeks later, we had the opportunity to hear from our members in a town hall about the future of our leadership. They told us what kinds of skills, qualities, mindsets, and experience they wanted to find in the next leader of Braver Angels.
They wanted someone who could galvanize people on the ground and motivate volunteers. Someone who was collaborative, agile, and understood our unique culture. Someone with a proven professional track record and experience in scaling organizations. Someone plugged in with political leaders across our country. Someone with wisdom. And so much more.
Could this be possible? Were we being realistic? One participant joked about whether we’ll be able to find this “walking Mother Teresa mixed with Dr. Martin Luther King mixed with Jesus Christ at a bargain rate.” She had a point: This is a significant role—not just for our organization, but for our country—and it demands a great deal from one individual.
During the search process, we partnered with a national executive search firm to scour our country looking for top leaders who could take on this role. Many of our members also recommended people in their own circle.
In total, we had over 400 applicants, which were narrowed down to the top 25. The Search Committee—a Red/Blue balanced group of volunteers, staff members, and a board member of Braver Angels—whittled that list down further to 13 individuals, all of whom were interviewed. These talented people were business leaders, civic entrepreneurs, government officials, military veterans, and more.
In the end, we found our next CEO because a veteran Braver Angels volunteer who leans Blue recommended a fellow Braver Angels volunteer who leans Red based on her experience working with him in Braver Angels.
“When I listened to [the Braver Angels] meeting about finding a new person for David Blankenhorn’s job,” Mary Thomas-Vallens told us early on in the process, “a Braver Angels member popped immediately into my mind: Maury Giles.”
She worked with him on several Braver Angels workshops, she explained, including co-moderating Common Ground Workshops with Republican and Democratic members of the Utah State Legislature. “I marveled at how he brought these elected officials together,” she said, “especially when they had shared that they had never had conversations with each other outside the legislative hall. They came, and the workshop was a true bridge-building event.”
So, Mary reached out to Maury about the CEO opening. Maury, who has been in the midst of a thriving career in the corporate world, listened and saw an opportunity to answer what he sees as a personal calling: joining all of us in taking Braver Angels’ collective work to its next chapter.
For those who haven’t yet met him, here’s what you should know: Maury Giles is a husband, a father of ten in a blended family, and a Red who now lives in Salt Lake City, UT. Maury doesn’t just understand the field—he comes directly from it. Volunteering with Braver Angels for five years, Maury has moderated Red/Blue workshops and led bipartisan legislative initiatives through Braver Politics.
Not only is Maury uniquely suited to our culture, but he also has the professional expertise needed to grow Braver Angels in size and impact. Maury spent two decades founding and scaling mission-driven organizations, building high-trust teams across partisan divides, and leading transformative Braver Angels workshops—bringing both the soul of a devoted volunteer and the strategic acumen we need to grow our movement.
As the Board said, “Maury’s appointment is more than a leadership transition; it’s a powerful statement of our determination to meet America’s challenges head-on.”
One last thing: We often say our volunteers are our engine, but in this search for our next leader, volunteers really played a critical role from start to finish. We shared our opinions about our next leader freely, fully, and without fear. Thanks to the wisdom and input of our volunteer leaders, we found someone we believe will enable us to meet the moment and gain even more momentum.
