Roger C. Vann

Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff

Roger C. Vann has served as chief operating officer and chief of staff for the NAACP since 2010 and oversees day-to-day management of the 104-year-old civil rights organization. Vann recently oversaw the development and implementation of the Association's successful 2012 civic engagement strategy that was responsible for over 430,000 new registered voters nationwide. He also led the organization's recent strategic planning process. Vann previously served as the NAACP's national membership director, chief development officer and senior vice president of field operations and membership.

His 20-year long association with the NAACP began when, at age 27, he was elected the youngest president in the history of the Greater New Haven, Connecticut Branch in 1993. Under his leadership, the branch grew to one of the largest in the nation and won critical victories on a range issues including living wage, public sector employment diversity and police misconduct. In 1999, as president of the Connecticut NAACP, Vann led a statewide coalition that won passage of one of the nation's first laws addressing racial profiling. 

A lifelong champion of civil liberties and workers' rights, Vann has served as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Connecticut as well as director of the African American Hiring Initiative (AAHI) for the International Union UNITE HERE.

Vann is an accomplished radio personality and administrator with more than 10 years experience as a news director, programmer and talk show host. He has worked as a community organizer on affordable housing issues and began his career developing and directing a pioneering manhood mentoring program for Planned Parenthood of Connecticut.

In addition to serving on the boards of several community and philanthropic organizations, Vann has demonstrated his commitment to social change through public service. In his native state of Connecticut he served as a member of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Affordable Housing, the State Treasurer's Task Force on Individual Development Accounts and the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.

A graduate of Brown University, Vann lives in Virginia with his wife and three children.