Marc

Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of the National Urban League, the nation's largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization.  In a distinguished professional career that has spanned more than two decades, Morial is widely recognized as one of the nation’s most accomplished servant-leaders. 

Since 2003, Morial has initiated and presided over an era of change and transformation for the organization.  His advocacy during the 2020 COVID-19 health and economic crisis has helped to shape federal response, directing relief to Black-owned businesses and communities of color that have been hardest hit. He has been at the forefront of the national effort to reimagine and reform the nation’s law enforcement agencies in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the uprisings that followed. Under his direction, the Urban League Movement’s 90 affiliates have served as economic first responders during the pandemic, while the organization continues to advance an empowerment agenda, reframing the objective of the 21^st century civil rights movement around the elimination of stark economic gaps between whites, Blacks, and other communities of color and between rich and poor Americans.

He is the author of The Gumbo Coalition: 10 Leadership Lessons That Help You Inspire, Unite, and Achieve.

Morial served as the mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002.  He was a popular chief executive with a broad multiracial coalition. Morial led New Orleans’ 1990s renaissance and left office with a 70 percent approval rating.

President Barack Obama appointed Morial to serve as chair of the Census Advisory Committee, a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, and on the Department of Education’s Equity and Excellence Commission.  He was also appointed to the Twenty-First Century Workforce Commission by President Bill Clinton.

Morial has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans by Ebony Magazine, one of the Top 50 Nonprofit Executives by the Nonprofit Times, and one of the Top 100 Black Lawyers in America.

Morial is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics and African-American Studies. He also holds a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. and is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, including from Xavier University and Howard University