Ben Jealous

Ben Jealous
Jealous in 2017
Executive Director of the Sierra Club
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 14, 2022
Preceded byMichael Brune
President and CEO of the NAACP
In office
September 1, 2008 – November 1, 2013
Preceded byDennis Courtland Hayes (acting)
Succeeded byLorraine Miller (acting)
Personal details
Born
Benjamin Todd Jealous

(1973-01-18) January 18, 1973 (age 51)
Pacific Grove, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2002; div. 2015)​
[1][2]
Children2
RelativesThomas Jefferson[3]
Peter G. Morgan[3]
Edward David Bland[3]
EducationColumbia University (BA)
St Antony's College, Oxford (MSc)

Benjamin Todd Jealous (born January 18, 1973) is an American civil rights leader, environmentalist and executive director of the Sierra Club. He served as the president and chief executive officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 2008 to 2013. When he was selected to head the NAACP at age 35, he became the organization's youngest-ever national leader.[4]

Jealous ran for governor of Maryland in the 2018 election.[5] He ran as a Democrat, and won the party's nomination in the June 2018 primary, defeating Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker and seven other candidates.[6] However, he lost in the general election to the incumbent governor, Republican Larry Hogan.[7]

Jealous is a partner at Kapor Capital, board chairman of the Southern Elections Fund[8] and one of the John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs Visiting Professors at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School.[9] In 2013, Jealous was named a Young Global Leader by the Davos World Economic Forum.

Jealous was selected as president of People for the American Way, and its associated foundation, on June 2, 2020, and assumed the position on June 15.[10] On November 14, 2022, Jealous was named the executive director of the Sierra Club, the first person of color to hold the position, effective January 23, 2023.[11][12] Jealous' 2023 book, Never Forget Our People Were Always Free: A Parable of American Healing[13][14] was released on January 10, 2023.[15]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference wedding was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference traction was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c Gates, Henry Louis Jr. (2016). "Ben Jealous (b. 1973)". Finding Your Roots, Season 2: The Official Companion to the PBS Series. UNC Press Books. pp. 149–164. ISBN 9781469626192.
  4. ^ Roland, Martin. "35-Year-Old Chosen to Lead the NAACP". CNN. Archived from the original on March 26, 2009. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  5. ^ Dresser, Michael. "Ex-NAACP chief Ben Jealous announces candidacy for Maryland governor". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on May 30, 2017. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
  6. ^ Almukhtar, Sarah; Bloch, Matthew; Lee, Jasmine C. (June 26, 2018). "Maryland Primary Election Results". The New York Times. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  7. ^ Erin Cox; Ovetta Wiggins; Rachel Chason (November 7, 2018). "Republican Gov. Larry Hogan wins a second term in deep-blue Maryland". The Washington Post.
  8. ^ Board. southernelectionsfund.org
  9. ^ "Former President and CEO of NAACP to Join the Woodrow Wilson School as Visiting Professor and Lecturer". Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  10. ^ "Ben Jealous Selected as President of People for the American Way and People for the American Way Foundation". June 2, 2020.
  11. ^ "Sierra Club Makes Historic Selection For Its Next Executive Director". sierraclub.org. Sierra Club. November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  12. ^ "Ben Jealous, former Maryland gubernatorial candidate and onetime NAACP president, is named executive director of Sierra Club". MSN. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  13. ^ "Ben Jealous: "Never Forget Our People Were Always Free"". WYPR. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  14. ^ Jealous, Benjamin Todd (January 6, 2023). "ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE". AFRO American Newspapers. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  15. ^ "Never Forget Our People Were Always Free". HarperCollins. Retrieved January 10, 2023.