Ralph B. Everett

Ralph Everett "is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, the nation’s premier African American think tank. Appointed to this position January 1, 2007...

"A native of Orangeburg, South Carolina, Mr. Everett is a 30-year veteran of the Washington policy scene. In 1982, after serving for several years as a legislative assistant to Senator Ernest Hollings, he was appointed by Hollings to be the Democratic staff director and minority chief counsel of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. When Democrats won majority control of the Senate in 1986, Mr. Everett was named Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the full committee, where he played a significant role in cable, broadcast and common carrier legislation, as well as regulatory reform of the airline, truck, rail and bus industries.

"In 1989, Mr. Everett became the first African American partner at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, a leading international law firm with more than 1,100 attorneys in 18 offices throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. During his 17-year career at the firm, he was a specialist in telecommunications and transportation policy issues and served for a time as Managing Partner of the Washington office. He was also a member of the firm’s Policy Committee and Co-Chair of its Federal Legislative Practice Group.

"In 1998, President Clinton appointed Mr. Everett as U.S. Ambassador to the International Telecommunication Union’s Plenipotentiary Conference in Minneapolis. That year he also led the U.S. delegation to the ITU’s Second World Telecommunication Development Conference in Malta, where he was elected Vice Chairman of the conference attended by representatives from more than 190 nations.

"Over the years, Mr. Everett has been active in national and community affairs, including six years of service on the board of the National Urban League and more than ten years on the board of the Center for National Policy, where he served as Secretary of the organization. He has served as a member of the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and as Vice Chairman of the Commonwealth of Virginia Waste Management Board. He is currently a member of the Economic Club of Washington, the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Science Museum and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

"Mr. Everett currently serves on the boards of directors of Cumulus Media Inc. and the Shenandoah Life Insurance Company. He is also a member of the Board of Visitors of Duke University Law School and has served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church, the oldest African American congregation in Alexandria, Virginia and one of the oldest Baptist Churches in the United States.

"Mr. Everett is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College and has a juris doctor from Duke University Law School, where he was an Earl Warren Legal Scholar. He began his professional career as a lawyer in the North Carolina Department of Labor in Raleigh.

"Mr. Everett resides in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife, Dr. Gwendolyn Harris Everett."