WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Center for American Progress has announced that Benjamin Jealous, partner at Kapor Capital and former president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, will be joining CAP as a Senior Fellow. Within his new role, Jealous will focus on tracking political trends impacting civil and human rights and will contribute to developing policy solutions that ensure equity and opportunity for all Americans.
“Ben has a long and outstanding history of dedicating his talents toward defending the civil rights of all Americans and is a proven civic leader and public servant,” said Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress. “Promoting social and economic fairness and opportunity should be a priority for policymakers across the political spectrum, and we are thrilled to welcome Ben to CAP and look forward to working with him to find innovative solutions to narrowing the gaps in opportunity and achievement for all Americans.”
“I am pleased to be joining the Center for American Progress,” said Jealous. “I look forward to focusing on the future – how America can maintain its position as the world leader in innovation and job creation, while expanding the culture of democratic and economic inclusion that has made the advances of the past 50 years possible.”
Jealous, who was appointed president and CEO of the NAACP in 2008, focused the organization on voting rights and criminal justice reform and oversaw the launch of several national programs focused on education, health, and environmental justice during his tenure as the organization’s president. The youngest person ever appointed to lead the organization, Jealous also expanded the NAACP’s capacity to organize around issues pertaining to the economy and voter registration and mobilization.
In March 2014, Jealous joined Kapor Capital, an Oakland-based firm that leverages the tech sector to create progressive social change.
Jealous’ career began in 1991, when he served as a community organizer in Harlem with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Among his many achievements and accolades, Jealous was named one of Time Magazine’s “40 Under 40″ rising stars of American politics in 2010 and was recently named a young global leader by the World Economic Forum.
A graduate of Columbia University and Oxford University and a Rhodes Scholar, Jealous also served as the president of the Rosenberg Foundation and was the founding director of Amnesty International’s U.S. Human Rights Program.
The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values. We work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and international problems and develop policy proposals that foster a government that is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
