35-year old Benjamin Jealous addresses board members and the press at the NAACP National Headquarters on May 17. Photo courtesy, NNPA

“My primary goals are to make sure that the Black surge that we saw in the primary is repeated in the general election and to make sure that we have both, an agenda for the transitioning government that will be happening in January as well as for this next century,” said Jealous in an NNPA interview just moments after the official announcement of his appointment to lead the 99-year-old civil rights organization, the nation’s oldest.

“We have one heck of a batting average and we need to maintain it,” he said of the record voter turnouts during the primary. “It’s to make sure that we are as strong of a player in this century as well as the next. So, a lot of this is about raising money, it’s about the use of technology, it’s about rebuilding the staff.”

Mr. Jealous, who will start the job Sept. 1, has an extensive resumé, entrenched in civil rights. He is a former managing editor of Mississippi’s historic Jackson Advocate. In 2000, he became executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Black Press of America. He left NNPA after three years to become director of Amnesty International’s U. S. Human Rights Program. He comes to the NAACP from the San Francisco-based Rosenberg Foundation, where he has served as president since 2005.

A positive aura encircled the horde of beaming civil rights leaders as Jealous stood outside of the organization’s Baltimore headquarters alongside board chairman Julian Bond and other supporters from the 64-member board that voted to hire him. However, no one denied the reality of the daunting challenge ahead given the major problems that have plagued the organization in recent years.

Former Verizon executive Bruce Gordon, resigned abruptly in February of 2007 after a 19-month presidency with the organization. He cited irreconcilable differences with the 64-member board.

Four months later Chairman Bond made a national appeal for board members and NAACP supporters to “show some love” to the NAACP by giving money.

Interim CEO Dennis Hayes, who stepped into leadership behind Mr. Gordon had announced staff cuts at the Baltimore headquarters from 119 to 70 people. He said the organization had used more than $10 million in reserves to cover shortfalls following the presidency of former Congressman Kweisi Mfume.

Despite financial woes, which are intrinsic to most civil and human rights organizations, Bond has steadily pointed to the social ills of America and the necessity of voter registration as the greatest priority of the organization.

The selection of Jealous means going from Gordon, a corporate executive who had never participated in a civil rights march to a young, but seasoned civil rights advocate with a background entrenched in the priority issues of the NAACP, including voter registration and education.

“Of the many people that we interviewed, he was head and shoulders above the others for this reason,” says Bond. “He has spent his entire professional life working on the issues that the NAACP holds dear. He has spent his entire professional life raising money for organizations much like the NAACP. He is in sync with the NAACP to a high degree and we are very happy to have him with us ... He’s a perfect fit for us in every way.