Bruce Gordon

By Maria Josevillota |

Bruce S. Gordon is the former President & CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was appointed in August 2005 and served for 19 months before resigning in March 2007.

Prior to the NAACP, Gordon had a 35-year career in the telecommunications industry. He retired in December 2003. In his final role, he was president – Retail Markets Group for Verizon Communications, responsible for the company’s $23B consumer and small business unit. He also directed corporate advertising and brand management. Gordon managed a 35,000-person nationwide work force.

In March 2007, The American Advertising Federation inducted Gordon into the Advertising Hall of Fame, the industry’s most prestigious honor. In May 2006, Ebony magazine named him one of its “100 Most Influential Black Americans and Organization Leaders”. In July 2002, he was ranked #6 on Fortune magazine’s list of the “50 Most Powerful Black Executives”. Black Enterprise magazine named him “1998 Executive of the Year.”

Gordon is a diversity consultant to Fortune 500 companies. Gordon is a trustee of the Newport Festivals Foundation, a member of the Advisory Boards for New York Urban League and Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys, and a member of the Executive Leadership Council. He was a longtime executive at Verizon and subsequently served as President & CEO of the NAACP. He previously served on the boards of CBS Corporation and Northrop Grumman Corporation. He is the former Chairman of the Board of ADT Corporation and previously served on the boards of Tyco International, Southern Company, Office Depot, Best Foods, Infinity Broadcasting, and Bartech Group; previously chaired the Chancellor’s Advisory Board on Student Motivation in the New York Public School System; and was a trustee of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Foundation, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, The Barnes Foundation, Gettysburg College, and Lincoln Center.

Born in Camden, New Jersey, Gordon received a B.A. from Gettysburg College, a M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, and an honorary doctorate from Gettysburg College.

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