Skye Perryman is urgently working for justice and fighting for the future. The current president and CEO of Democracy Forward, Perryman’s work centers on confronting extremism, challenging anti-democratic movements, and building a vibrant democracy for all people. For her, the work isn’t political — it’s about serving people.
Perryman grew up in Waco and studied economics and philosophy while at Baylor. She married her high school sweetheart and fellow alumnus James Cole Bucy, with whom she shares one son, Renick.
Following her graduation from Baylor, Perryman worked for a policy think tank in Washington, D.C. before attending Georgetown University Law Center, where she received a juris doctor degree with honors. Perryman began her law career at Covington & Burling in D.C., then transitioned to WilmerHale. At both firms, she worked alongside some of the nation’s top lawyers, honing her litigation skills while also developing the leadership abilities that would shape the rest of her career.
When Perryman was asked by a senior lawyer she greatly admired at the start-up organization, Democracy Forward, to consider coming onboard, she knew she was taking a risk. Joining the team meant leaving behind all the associated benefits and privileges that came with working for a global law firm. But she could not turn a blind eye to her passion for the mission, and she became a founding member of the litigation team. Only a year into her work there, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a long-term public-interest client of Perryman’s, asked her to join its leadership team. She accepted and became the organization’s chief legal officer.
In 2021, Perryman was asked to return to Democracy Forward – only this time as president and CEO. With violent extremism on the rise following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Perryman saw a desperate need for the work the organization championed. She returned to Democracy forward as president before the age of 40.
Since then, Democracy Forward has only continued to grow and flourish. The organization had taken hundreds of legal actions and worked with more than 600 clients and partners. In its work, the organization files cases that protect individual rights, freedom of speech, reproductive health care, and religious liberty. Its impact under Perryman’s leadership did not go unnoticed. In 2025, Perryman was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People.
Perryman has been recognized for her empowering work time and time again. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Pursuit of Justice from the Georgetown University Law Center’s O’Neill Institute, was named one of the 500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy by Washingtonian, was one of The NonProfit Times’s Power & Influence Top 50 and its 2025 Influencer of the Year, and is a four-time Rising Star in Litigation in Washington, DC, among countless other honors.
Perryman is a powerhouse whose work is sustained by a deep commitment to justice. Throughout her career, she has dedicated herself to protecting democratic institutions and expanding meaningful civic participation, especially at moments when those ideals are under threat. Rather than treating politics as something to be observed from a distance, she calls on others to reject passivity and recognize their own responsibility within the democratic process. Her work is an invitation and a reminder that democracy requires vigilance, courage, and collective action, and the fight for it is ongoing.
Read more: How Skye Perryman Rose from Baylor to Become a Defender of Democracy
Read about the complete 2026 class of Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony honorees in a special edition of Baylor Line Magazine.
