Margaret Huang

In April 2020, she joined the Southern Poverty Law Center as president and chief executive officer. After joining the SPLC, she led the organization to adopt a new mission statement: The SPLC is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people. Under this new mission, she has outlined four key impact goals for the organization's work over the next ten years. Asked by a New York magazine journalist about her goals at SPLC, she shared the goal of lifting two million people out of poverty in the Deep South, and reducing the number of people who adhere to white nationalism ideology. Other goals include reducing the incarcerated or detained population in Deep South states by 35%, and increasing the number of voters of color engaging in elections and other civic activities based on data from the 2020 election.

In September 2020, she received the Civil Rights Award from the March on Washington Film Festival.

One year into her role with SPLC, she gave an interview to the Washington Post outlining the threats of extremism to the U.S.

In February 2022, she testified before the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, about the rising violence against minority institutions.

In June 2024, she oversaw massive layoffs at the organization that primarily affected SPLC's immigrant justice work and education advocacy through the Learning for Justice program. The Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative, which provided direct services and pro bono legal aid to migrants in detention across the Deep South, was shuttered. In total 80 people, representing 25% of the SPLC's workforce, were laid off. In September 2024, 92% of remaining SPLC staffers supported a no-confidence motion on Huang. The workers demanded a reversal of the mass layoff, which they characterized as a union-busting tactic, and the hiring of a new CEO. The chair of the union's bargaining committee called the layoffs "sloppy, dispassionate, inhumane. It has been the absolute opposite of what the organization says they stand for and absolute chaos since then." SPLC leadership dismissed the union's request to remove Huang as CEO. Huang resigned as CEO in July 2025 and was replaced by interim CEO Bryan Fair.