Denise was a member of the Board of Trustees of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri from 1996 to 2009 before coming back in 2012. She served as board president from 1998 to 2001, chair of the development and nominating committees, a volunteer attorney and is a longstanding member of the legal committee. Denise also served briefly as interim executive director in 2000. She has served as General Counsel of the affiliate since 2014. After graduating from Yale Law School, Denise worked as a trial attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, litigating school desegregation and fair housing cases, including cases in St. Louis. She is professor of practice at the Washington University School of Law, introducing her students to First Amendment issues, whenever possible. Denise currently serves as vice-president and chair of the Legal Committee of the ACLU of Missouri. Denise and her husband Michael Cannon have two (sort of) grown sons.
