Blair Hamilton Taylor is the President and CEO of the Los Angeles Urban League, a position he has held since 2005. The League is an affiliate of one of the nation's leading civil rights organizations with offices in more than 100 cities. With a staff of over 300 and a budget in excess of $25 million, the 88-year-old Los Angeles Urban League is one of America's largest civil rights entities.

Taylor is a visionary leader, community servant and coalition builder with nearly twenty five years of public and private sector business experience. A Los Angeles resident for more than two decades, Taylor was born in New York as the third of five children. He learned the value of higher education at a young age. His father earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University and his law degree from NYU; his mother earned her bachelor's degree cum laude from Smith College and her masters from Yale University. These were significant achievements for African Americans of their era. More importantly, both parents were tireless community servants and instilled in their five sons a passion for advancing causes of the less fortunate.

Prior to joining the LA Urban League, Taylor served as Executive Vice President of College Summit, a national college access initiative with a track record of nearly doubling the college enrollment rates of low income students. During his tenure, College Summit achieved the fastest growth in the organization's history, quadrupling its student outreach to more than 6,000 students in 2005.

 Taylor's entrepreneurial background includes four years as the President and CEO of COI/ICD, a leading retail franchising company focused on low income communities in the U.S. and the Caribbean. For his pioneering efforts, Taylor was named California's Mass Mutual Blue Chip Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999 and was frequently recognized in national publications such as USA Today, Entrepreneur magazine, National Business Employment Weekly, Fortune magazine, Franchise Times, PC World, Successful Franchising Magazine, and Franchise Times magazine.

 Taylor's private sector experience also includes more than eight years of leadership with PepsiCo and the IBM Corporation where he held numerous brand marketing, strategy, and executive sales positions, including National Sales Director for Pepsi Cola's Educational Channel. His public sector experience includes serving as a Senior Staff Member for the Los Angeles City Council, where he oversaw redistricting, public safety, and economic development initiatives. Taylor also ran for U.S. Congress on a platform of economic development, education and building coalitions between businesses and urban communities.

 A committed community servant, Taylor presently serves on the Board of Trustees for Amherst College, the Board of Councilors for the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education, the Board of the California Charter School Association, and on the Boards of the Forum, the Los Angeles Civic Alliance and the KIPP Charter Schools of Los Angeles. He also serves as an appointed member of Governor Schwarzenegger's Complete Count Committee and as the Board President and Co-Founder of the Greater Crenshaw Educational Partnership (GCEP). He is also a Member of the Advisory Boards for State Farm Bank, Para Los Ninos and the Los Angeles City Police Department, and a counselor and pre-marital course instructor for Faithful Central Bible Church. He previously served on the Board of the LA Chamber of Commerce, and served terms as a Bond Steering Committee Member for Inglewood Unified Schools, Class Secretary for Amherst College, and a term as an Executive Committee Member of UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management, where he chaired the Anderson School's Diversity and Outreach Committee. Taylor has also previously served as a member of the LA Mayor's Business Growth Team, Treasurer of the Los Angeles Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community Initiative, and as Economic Development Chair of the 100 Black Men of Los Angeles. He is past President of Amherst College Alumni, a former Advisory Committee Member and National Minority Representative of the International Franchise Association (IFA), a former Big Brother Mentor and Volunteer, and a UCLA Riordan Program Mentor.