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Bruce S. Gordon
President & CEO, NAACP
Sponsor: 2007 KeyBank Diversity Thought Leadership Series
After a 35-year career in the telecommunications industry, Bruce S. Gordon became head of the NAACP on August 1, 2005.
Before retiring in December 2003, Gordon was president of the Retail Markets Group for Verizon Communications, responsible for the company's consumer and small business customers, and directed corporate advertising and brand management. He managed a 35,000-person work force and was accountable for $23 billion in revenue.
Gordon began his career 1968 as a management trainee with a company that began as Bell of Pennsylvania, became Bell Atlantic, and is now Verizon Communications. He advanced through assignments in personnel, operations, and sales and marketing, and in 1985, was appointed vice president of sales and subsequently served as group president of consumer and small business services and group president of enterprise business.
In May 2006, Ebony magazine named Gordon to its "100 Most Influential Black Americans and Organization Leaders" list. In July 2002, he was ranked number six on Fortune magazine's "50 Most Powerful Black Executives" list. Black Enterprise magazine named him "1998 Executive of the Year."
Gordon is a member of the boards of CBS and Tyco International, Ltd., a trustee of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Foundation, and a member of the Executive Leadership Council. Previously, he served on the boards of Southern Company, Office Depot, Best Foods, Infinity Broadcasting and Bartech Group, and was a trustee of 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.
January 29, 2007