Jenise Terrell has come full circle. She is the new chief executive officer at social justice nonprofit Public Allies in Washington, D.C., having started her nonprofit career as a Public Allies AmeriCorps member in 1997.
Terrell becomes the first alumni and first Black woman to hold the CEO title at an organization that has included such powerful women leaders as Vanessa Kirsch, Public Allies co-founder and first CEO, and former First Lady Michelle Obama, founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago.
Terrell has more than 25 years’ experience in nonprofit leadership, community development, and leadership development. Most of her career has been focused on leveraging national service as a vehicle to create pathways to leadership for marginalized and disenfranchised voices across the United States.
Terrell has held several roles during her more than 20 years at the organization, including Ally mentor and supervisor, field operations leader, fundraising strategist, government relations lead, executive vice president of program strategy, and most recently the interim CEO.
Terrell had been serving as interim CEO for the past six months, navigating Public Allies through a transition following an organizational restructure that caused a furor and resulted in Jaime Uzeta resigning as CEO. The restructuring involved the termination of 30 staffer members and caused such a strong backlash that a website savepublicallies.org was created. The layoffs came after a $10 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott to support the Public Allies AmeriCorps apprenticeship program. Nearly 1,000 staff and supporters signed on to demands made on the site.
“In a time of increasing inequity and division across the country, Public Allies’ values-based leadership practice, our signature Ally Program, and our talented, mobilized alumni network are needed now more than ever. We have the leadership, network, passion, and programming in place to support that vision,” Terrell said via a statement. “It is the greatest honor of my life to serve at the helm of the organization that not only helped shape my own leadership, but has been responsible for launching the careers of thousands of noteworthy changemakers across our nation. I am enthusiastically committed to furthering the reach of our premise that leadership is an action to be taken, not just a position to be held.”
Centered on the values of equity and proximate leadership, Public Allies has launched nearly 10,000 equity-centered and social justice-oriented leaders across sectors and across the country. With the rise in rhetoric that points to an increasingly divided nation, America needs the kinds of diverse, democratic leaders that Public Allies fosters. Public Allies’ mission is more relevant and critical now than ever before, according to a statement from the organization.
“Jenise Terrell so powerfully embodies the mission and values of Public Allies,” Kanwar Singh, chair of the board of Public Allies said via a statement. “Her appointment to this position represents a shift toward the alignment of our values with our practice. We can not help but recognize her as exactly the kind of leader our social justice movement needs today. We commit to walking the path alongside her and in support of her, and we extend our deepest gratitude to her for leading us into this next, exciting phase for Public Allies.”
