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Sloan Fellow Bruce Gordon Selected to Lead NAACP

Sloan Fellow Bruce S. Gordon SL '88 is the 15th person to head up the NAACP. Photo courtesy of the NAACP.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) board of directors unanimously selected Bruce S. Gordon SL '88, a Sloan Fellow and retired Verizon senior executive, to be the president and CEO of the civil rights organization on June 25. Gordon was officially confirmed July 15 after contract negotiations, on the last day of the 96th Annual NAACP Convention. He will begin his post on August 1.

Gordon, 59, built a 35-year career in the telecommunications industry, working through the ranks of Bell of Pennsylvania, which became Bell Atlantic then Verizon. Gordon presided over the company's biggest division, retail markets, before retiring in 2003. His unit brought in some $25 billion in annual revenues and served 33 million residential customers. Gordon was named one of the 50 Most Powerful Black Executives by Fortune in 2002 and Executive of the Year in 1998 by Black Enterprise magazine.

Gordon's corporate background marks a change for the NAACP, which in recent history has been led by politicians, civil rights activists, or clergy members. The embattled organization faces misconduct allegations following former president Kweisi Mfume's resignation in December 2004 and the IRS is auditing the organization's nonprofit status after chairman Julian Bond criticized President Bush during the 2004 presidential campaign.

"I do have a civil rights history," Gordon said at a press conference announcing his selection. "It's just different than some others." The son of activists, he began attending NAACP meetings at age eight in Camden, N.J., a branch his father founded. Throughout his career, Gordon has mentored younger blacks to succeed in corporate careers at Verizon and as a member of the Executive Leadership Council, a national organization of black executives.

"The world has changed....We have a new and different set of challenges," Gordon said. "We will make sure that our focus and our purpose reflect the kind of issues and challenges that we see today, which in many respects are different, more subtle, more complex than they were 40 or 50 years ago." His immediate goals for the NAACP include building the endowment to allow for sustainable financial stability and expanding the half-million member group in numbers, demographics, and skill sets.

Gordon plans to target membership among 20- to 35-year-olds through selected spokespeople and Internet marketing. "As we do that, we're going to start to broaden the focus to address issues that this particular demographic cares about," Gordon said in an interview on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. "And as that happens, I believe we will find a more vibrant NAACP, a more relevant NAACP."

He will also focus on economic opportunities, including employment and growing the base of minority suppliers, because he believes that economic power enables social equality.

Gordon promises vigor and enthusiasm in promoting the aims of the NAACP. "This will be the same organization in terms of its basic purpose--civil, economic, social justice and equality," Gordon said. "But it might become a different organization in terms of its size, its scope, its scale, its power, and its influence."

Update: Gordon resigned his post effective March 2007 after 19 months at the helm of the NAACP. According to the Associated Press, he is credited with smoothing strained relations between the NAACP and the White House, using his corporate ties to quickly aid black New Orleans residents after hurricane Katrina, hiring key national employees whose reputations inspired staff members, improving the NAACP's Internet presence, and strengthening the group's ties to corporate America.