Marc H. Morial
President and CEO of the National Urban League
Marc Morial, an alumnus of Rising for Justice’s clinical legal education program (class of 1983), is the President and CEO of the National Urban League, the nation’s largest historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization, and a leading voice on the national stage in the battle for jobs, education, housing, health, voting rights, equity, and entrepreneurship.
He served two terms as Mayor of New Orleans as well as serving as President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Prior to that, Marc was a Louisiana State Senator and lawyer in New Orleans with a high-profile practice.
A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Economics and African American Studies, he has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential Black Americans by Ebony Magazine, one of the top 50 Non-Profit Leaders by the Non-Profit Times, and one of the 100 Most Influential Black Lawyers in America. He was also inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame in Atlanta, GA.
Marc’s recent book, Gumbo Coalition: 10 Leadership Lessons That Help You Inspire, Unite, and Achieve, has been widely acclaimed, and his column entitled To Be Equal, reaches hundreds of thousands. He also hosts the weekly syndicated television show America’s Black Forum.
Marc and his father, the late Ernest “Dutch” Morial, are history-makers as the first African American father/son mayors in the U.S. and were the subject of a Double Jeopardy question on the legendary Jeopardy! television game show in the 1990s.