Meldon Hollis, JD, The First Executive Director of the White House 
Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities 
2
Virginia State University 
Keynote Speaker
Meldon Hollis’s 
expertise on 
the American 
presidency and 
Blacks Colleges 
emerges from 
his longstanding 
work to 
strengthen the 
relationship 
between U.S. 
presidents and HBCUs. While serving in 
President Jimmy Carter’s administration as 
Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary 
for Education at the Department of Health, 
Education and Welfare (HEW), Hollis played 
a central role in the initial conceptualization 
and ultimate establishment of the White 
House Initiative on Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities. 
He also served as the first Executive Director 
of the White House office in 1980. He later 
returned to the White House Initiative on 
HBCUs in 2009 to work as the Associate 
Director during the Obama presidency. In 
that capacity, he collaborated with federal 
departments and agencies to assure access and 
participation in federal programs for more than 
100 HBCUs. 
Hollis’s storied professional career extends to 
roles such as Coordinator of Intergovernmental 
Affairs at the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency (FEMA), along with high-level 
administrative positions at the University 
of Maryland, Texas Southern University, 
and Harvard University.  He has also taught 
undergraduate and graduate courses in 
Government, Law, Public Administration, 
African American Studies, Political Science, 
and Emergency Management at Northeastern 
University, University of Maryland, Howard 
University, and Savannah State University. 
His public service and volunteer work includes 
the Board of Directors of Friends of the 
National Zoo in Washington, D.C., Board of 
Trustees of the Massachusetts Bay Community 
College, President of the Baltimore City School 
Commissioners, Chairman of the Board of 
the Baltimore Urban League, and Board of 
Directors of the Hilton Head Island Gullah 
Museum.  
Hollis also enjoyed a radio station talk show 
host career for nine years on WEAA–FM in 
Baltimore. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military 
Academy, University of Maryland, University 
of Legon in Ghana, West Africa, and Harvard 
Law School.  Hollis is married to Jenetha 
McCutcheon Hollis; the couple reside in 
Hardeeville, S.C.

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