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In 2016 Blumner, as president of the Center for Inquiry, championed a new global initiative called Secular Rescue which aims to protect and provide emergency support to non-believers, atheists and apostates, if necessary giving them an escape route from violence and death threats as well as diplomatic and legal assistance. "It’s really an underground railroad of sorts for non-believers in countries where simply expressing doubt about religious belief is a criminal offense or where it may lead to grave physical harm." Blumner addressed the 36th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on September 20, 2017 following a surge in discrimination against atheists in Malaysia, bringing pressure to bear on the issue of freedom of conscience. As of January 2018, Secular Rescue claims to have provided emergency aid to 30 individuals, including PEN Pinter Prize winning writer Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury.

In 2016, following the merger of the RDFRS with the Center for Inquiry, Blumner took over from Ronald A. Lindsay as CEO and president of CFI, a position which Hemant Mehta speculated would make her “one of the most powerful women in the world of organized atheism.”

In February 2014 Blumner joined the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS) as executive director, replacing interim director Edwina Rogers who in 2013 had been director of the Secular Coalition for America when it and RDFRS formed a partnership.

From 2008-2009 she was also a regular contributor to Huffington Post.

In 2004 Blumner was awarded the Emperor Has No Clothes Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which describes it as an “award celebrating ‘plain speaking’ on the shortcomings of religion by public figures.”

From 1998 to 2014 Blumner was an opinion writer for Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times), was syndicated in papers across the country and is described as a columnist and editorial writer. In 2012 Blumner, along with John Hill, Joni James and Tim Nickens, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for their work at the Tampa Bay Times in conducting an extensive investigation of a state governor and the effects of his inexperience on the state.

From 1989 she was director of the ACLU for Florida where she campaigned on various civil liberties issues such as reproductive rights, right to demonstrate, First Amendment rights and sexual discrimination. That organization gave her the Gardner W. Beckett, Jr. Civil Liberties Award in 2001 and the Irene Miller Vigilance in Journalism Award in 2010 to honor her work.

From 1987 Blumner held the position of executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union In Utah where she frequently acted as spokesperson on topics such as freedom of speech (including for white supremacists such as Aryan Nations) and abortion rights.

She was raised in Glen Cove, Long Island and became interested in politics from a young age, leafleting for Senator George McGovern during his 1972 presidential campaign and organizing the Young Democrats while at school. In 1982 she was awarded a BA in Industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. From there she went to New York University School of Law and in 1985 completed a J.D. degree. While studying for her that degree she began working for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority where she became assistant director of labor-management relations.

Robyn Ellen Blumner (born 1961) is a journalist, civil rights expert and the current president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the secular educational organization Center for Inquiry (CFI) and executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. She holds a J.D. degree and worked for several years as director of local affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union advocating for civil liberties and civil rights before becoming a newspaper columnist and editorial writer in Florida.

Blumner was born May 14, 1961 in Queens, New York City. Her parents were teachers and politically active union members, her mother being a registered Democrat, her father being an independent voter who occasionally voted Republican. Her grandmother had been awarded a law degree but had not practised, as women in those days were unable to obtain an apprenticeship to practice law.