Ex-NAACP Leader Jealous to Join Calif. Social-Impact Firm

Benjamin Jealous, the former NAACP chief executive credited with reinvigorating the civil-rights organization during a five-year tenure that ended in December, is joining a West Coast venture-capital company that specializes in social investing, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Mr. Jealous, who said upon announcing his resignation last year said he planned to embark on a career in education, will instead be a venture partner with Oakland-based Kapor Capital and the Kapor Center for Social Impact, focused on forging a path from low-income and minority communities into the tech sector.

“The greatest possibility to diversify [Silicon Valley] and in solving the problems in our communities is in the startups,” he said. “If you get the seed right from the very beginning, then you can reap the benefits easier.”

The 41-year-old Bay Area native has no business background, but Kapor Capital co-founder Freada Kapor Klein said that “the turnaround he did at the NAACP rivals anything that’s been done in the corporate world.” Under Mr. Jealous the venerable civil rights group doubled its revenue and established out a significant online presence.

Read a Chronicle of Philanthropy article on Mr. Jealous’s NAACP legacy.