A job listing, first unearthed by Yellowhammer News on Thursday, reveals the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was hit with an 11-count indictment amid an ongoing search for a new CEO. According to the listing, the nonprofit is willing to pay up to $525,000 per year for a new top executive to lead the SPLC into its “Next Chapter.”
Though only posted to the third-party job listing website, Daybook, on Wednesday, the listing has been available on a job board maintained by the headhunting firm, Korn Ferry, since December 19, 2025.
According to the listing, the next CEO of the SPLC will join the nonprofit during a “pivotal moment,” as the next leader, “will not only inherit a legacy of courage and conviction, but also have the opportunity to shape the future of civil rights in America.”
The job listing further explains that the next CEO of the SPLC, “will be responsible for ensuring the SPLC’s consistent fulfillment of its mission, strategic vision, and financial objectives, bringing transparency and visionary leadership to every facet of the organization.”
In addition to the headhunter website and Daybook, the listing is currently available on the SPLC website.
Currently, the SPLC is headed by interim CEO Bryan Fair, who was appointed to the position shortly after Margaret Huang resigned months following an overwhelming no confidence vote from members of the nonprofit’s union.
The nonprofit has gone through multiple top executives since the 2019 departure of its co-founder, Morris Dees, who was fired amid allegations of misconduct and presiding over a toxic workplace, but it was Fair who first confirmed the SPLC was the subject of a criminal investigation on Tuesday, when he defended the SPLC’s prior use of paid informants, and cited threats the nonprofit received following its efforts to confront the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s.
“In light of that work, we sought to protect the safety of our staff and the public. We frequently shared what we learned from informants with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI,” said Fair. “We did not, however, share our use of informants broadly with anyone, to protect the identity and safety of the informants and their families.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI, the nonprofit “secretly funneled” over $3 million in donor money to individuals, “associated with various violent extremist groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and National Socialist Party of America.”
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday accused the SPLC of “manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” while FBI Director Kash Patel described their use of paid informants as “a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public.”
Patel stated, “They lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups – even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes. That is illegal – and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved.”
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
End the splc
Past time to end this group.