The Citizens League is a nonpartisan think tank

Think tank

A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...

 based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. It was established in 1952 as a good government advocacy and policy group.

The first Citizens League board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 was elected on February 14, 1952; the League's first president was Stuart Leck. Dues were $5.

In the past 53 years, the Citizens League has had only six executive directors. They were Ray Black (1952–1958), Verne Johnson (1958–1967), Ted Kolderie (1967–1980), Curt Johnson

Curt Johnson

Curt Johnson is former General Manager of the Kansas City Wizards, a position he had held from 1999 to 2006.Johnson attended North Carolina State University, graduating in 1991 with a BA in Communication studies...

 (1980–1991), Lyle Wray (1992–2003) and Sean Kershaw (2003–present).