Sarah Ruger directs free expression initiatives for the Charles Koch Institute and Foundation. She is a passionate advocate for open inquiry, Enlightenment principles, and free speech rights. Prior to her work promoting peaceful pluralism and civil discourse, she built grant partnerships in higher education and managed donor relations for the Charles Koch Foundation. She also previously managed external relations for the Institute for Humane Studies, connecting academic research on human and societal well-being with opportunities for public policy impact. She has written for USA Today and Inside Higher Ed, among others. She earned her BA in political economy and Spanish from Belmont University in Nashville, TN.