Shelby Chestnut (they/he) serves as Executive Director of Transgender Law Center (TLC). Shelby is a movement leader and policy expert, demonstrated with over 20 years of experience. Being both white and descended from the Assiniboine tribe of Montana, they grew up in Montana and Minnesota with a single mom. They are the first Native trans executive director at TLC.

Prior to this role, Shelby served for five years as TLC’s Director of Policy and Programs. Shelby helped build a robust team that successfully launched the Disability Project, Black Trans Circles, Justice for Roxsana, Free Chin, and the Trans Agenda for Liberation, the community-led guide outlining solutions towards a better world for all.

In their decades of work within BIPOC, LGBTQ, and anti-violence movements, they helped advance the passage of the Violence Against Women Act and the NYC Right to Know Act. Additionally, they served on mayoral and city council commissions, helped increase funding for LGBTQ survivors of domestic violence, and worked on a local and national rapid response model for anti-LGBTQ violence,  

Shelby is a graduate of Antioch College and The New School, and currently the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Antioch College.