Leslie T. Annexstein is part of the Coordinator and Director Services Team at Grand River Solutions.

Leslie has substantial experience helping institutions comply with laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination. Before joining Grand River Solutions, Leslie was the inaugural Assistant Vice President for Equity and Title IX Coordinator at American University. She also served as the inaugural Title IX Director at Howard University and as the inaugural Deputy Director of the Office of Civil Rights & Sexual Misconduct at University of Maryland, College Park. In these roles, she developed office infrastructure and internal operational procedures, developed staff positions, participated in developing policies that comply with relevant laws and procedures, supervised investigations, developed and administered compliance trainings, and created strategic partnerships.

Before her career in higher education, Leslie worked in various non–profit organizations and in the federal government. Leslie began her legal career as a trial attorney in the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, where she investigated and litigated individual and large pattern or practice cases brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Leslie later worked as a Senior Attorney Advisor to the General Counsel of the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, providing advice and counsel on litigation and policy matters. At the National Women’s Law Center, Leslie focused on the areas of education and employment and served as co–counsel for the petitioner in the precedent–setting Supreme Court case that held that Title IX requires educational institutions to respond to and remedy student–to–student sexual harassment. At the Center for Law and Education, Leslie worked to ensure access to career and technical education programs in public schools, with a particular focus on the rights of students with disabilities. Leslie also previously managed a program that provided legal services to low–income New Yorkers at risk of losing their public benefits or housing. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Leslie worked in social services in New York City; this included working in school drop–out prevention programs located in public schools.

Leslie earned her J.D. from Berkeley Law School and her B.A. from Swarthmore College.