Michael L. Lomax

Since 2004, Dr. Michael L. Lomax has been president and CEO of UNCF, the nation's largest private provider of scholarships and other educational support to African American students and a leading advocate of college readiness: preparing students for college success from pre-school through high school. Under his leadership, UNCF has raised $3.8 billion and helped more than 150,000 students earn college degrees and launch careers. Annually, UNCF's work enables 50,000 students to go to college with UNCF scholarships and attend its 37 member historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

At UNCF’s helm, Dr. Lomax oversees the organization’s 400 scholarship programs, which award 10,000 scholarships a year. He also launched the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building, which helps UNCF’s member HBCUs become stronger, more effective and more self-sustaining.

Dr. Lomax has fought for college readiness and education reform through partnerships with reform-focused leaders and organizations. He serves on the boards of Teach For America and the KIPP Foundation. He also co-chaired the Washington, DC, mayoral education transition team and the search committee for a new DC school chancellor.

Before joining UNCF, Dr. Lomax was president of Dillard University in New Orleans and a literature professor at UNCF-member institutions Morehouse and Spelman Colleges. He also founded the National Black Arts Festival, was a founding member of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and served as chairman of the Fulton County Commission in Atlanta, the first African American elected to that post.