Shavon Arline-Bradley Bradley(Courtesy of the National Council of Negro Women)
By Stacey Brown
January 26, 2023
When President Joe Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, Dr. Shavon Arline-Bradley counted among the first to cheer the nomination.
She asserted that Judge Jackson “embodied the principles of our communities and brings lived experience.”
Further, Arline-Bradley predicted that the nomination would “make an indelible mark on the Supreme Court for generations to come.”
Now, the National Council of Negro Women, Inc. (NCNW) has expressed its confidence that Arline-Bradley would also make an indelible mark on its organization.
They’ve tapped her as the first president and CEO of the 88-year-old organization.
Dr. A. Lois Keith, the new board chair of NCNW, predicted that Arline-Bradley would do better than expected because “these are the areas in which NCNW would like to continue, as we bridge the generational gap.”
In a press release, the organization said that Arline-Bradley co-founded The Health Equity Cypher Group because she wanted to advance DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and improve the health and social outcomes of the most vulnerable people.
That group is made up of health leaders who work to advance DEI and executive leadership in all sectors, officials stated.
As president and chairman of Delta for Women in Action, a 501(c)4 organization, Arline-Bradley works as a community advocate.
Arline-Bradley is also a member of the advisory board for the Oprah Winfrey Network initiative “OWN Your Health.”
A southern New Jersey native, Arline-Bradley attended Tulane University where she received a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public health.
Later, she earned a Master of Divinity from Virginia Union University’s Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology and became a minister.
Additionally, Arline-Bradley obtained an Executive Certificate in Business Management from Howard University and an Executive Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University.
“This is an exciting time for NCNW. Shavon is a person of vision, with tremendous ideas, a broad outreach, and a flawless work record that will be recognized for years to come,” said Dr. Thelma T. Daley, NCNW immediate past president and chair, the last individual to hold the combined position in the organization’s history.
At the 60th Biennial National Convention of the NCNW, which was held in December 2022, officials said that Daley “skillfully led the assembled delegates in passing the bylaws to allow the organization founded in 1935 to be restructured.”
In a news release, officials said, “This is the first time NCNW has designated separate leadership roles electing a board chair and hiring a president/CEO serving in a salaried position.”
Dr. Johnnetta Betsch Cole suggested a new structure for NCNW where the chair would oversee bringing the board together to do its work, which will be focused on governance and making big decisions “to set a tone for carrying out the vision and mission of NCNW.”
“With this structure, NCNW will be an even better civil rights and women’s rights group,” Cole said in the press release.
“We are in an intensely difficult time in our country. A time when there are constant challenges to the fundamental rights of women, people of color, and all marginalized communities. She went on to say, “At such a time as this, a deep challenging time such as this, NCNW is so fortunate to have Shavon Arline-Bradley as our president and CEO; for she is a deeply admired and affective leader in our ongoing struggle for justice and equity.”