Dr. Michael L. Lomax

Dr. Lomax is the President and CEO of UNCF – the United Negro College Fund – the nation’s largest and most successful minority higher education assistance organization. UNCF provides operating and program funds to its 39-member private historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and their 55,000 students, and manages over 400 scholarships – including the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarships – supporting nearly 8,000 students at over 900 colleges and universities.

Immediately before joining UNCF, he served seven years as President of Dillard University in New Orleans.

He graduated from Morehouse College, received his M.A. degree from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in American and African American literature from Emory University. He taught literature at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges and the University of Georgia.

He served as the first Head of the Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs, and was elected to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, serving as first African American Chair.

Dr. Lomax is a Trustee of Emory University and Member of the Council of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

He serves on the board of Teach for America, The KIPP Foundation, The Carter Center, High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Studio Museum in Harlem, Bill T. Jones Dance Company, National Black Arts Festival, and President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.