We’re delighted to congratulate Nation blogger Ilyse Hogue on her appointment as the new president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Hogue is the co-founder of Friends of Democracy Super PAC, a group focused on campaign finance reform, and formerly served as communications and political advocacy director for MoveOn.org. She is also a former senior adviser to Media Matters for America, the non-profit progressive media watchdog.

“I’m delighted at the news of Ilyse’s appointment,” says The Nation’s Editor and Publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel. “I can think of few organizations as critical to the rights of so many people as NARAL and I can think of very few individuals with the passion, strategic savvy, tenacity and vision of Ilyse. I think it’s a match made in secular heaven and I’m excited to watch as Ilyse takes this invaluable group into the next generation.”

NARAL is the leading reproductive rights advocacy organization in the United States, with over 1 million members and affiliates in twenty-three states. Outgoing President Nancy Keenan announced in May 2012 that she would be stepping down from the helm of the organization after eight years to make room for a “new and younger leader.”

“Roe v. Wade is 40 in January,” she told The Washington Post. “It’s time for a new leader to come in and, basically, be the person for the next 40 years of protecting reproductive choice.”

At The Nation, Hogue has written important articles about the dangers of laughing at Todd Akin; the lessons to draw from Sally Ride’s life and death, and the ill-timed and poorly-managed Facebook IPO, among many other posts bringing together political economy, culture and women’s rights.

In this short video on women’s rights taken from a Nation event at The New School in October of 2012, the qualities that will make Hogue a strong and essential leader are crystal clear.