The Leader of Change Award recognizes an individual who is making powerful impact in helping to create a more just and equitable Boston through critical and sustainable change. We are thrilled to announce Imari Paris Jeffries, Executive Director of Embrace Boston, as this year’s Leader of Change honoree!

As Embrace Boston’s President and CEO since June 2020, Imari is leading a citywide racial equity transformation through The Embrace memorial recently unveiled on Boston Common, the future Embrace Center for Economic Justice in Roxbury, and policy and community organizing efforts throughout the city. An army veteran serving from 1991-1996, Imari’s influential career has spanned public, national, and nonprofit management, community activism, education reform, and social justice sectors.

Locally, Imari has served in executive roles for Parenting Journey, the Italian Home for Children, Jumpstart, Boston Rising, and Friends of the Children-Boston.  Imari has supplemented his work with volunteer service on a variety of non-profit boards, including Jumpstart, the African American Federation of Greater Boston, Save the Harbor, Save the Bay, the Elizabeth Peabody House, the Massachusetts Mentoring Partnership, the Edward Brooke Charter School, The Providers Council, and Third Sector New England.  He currently serves as a Trustee of the UMass System, Mass Humanities, Mass Budget, Policy Center, and the Governor’s Black Advisory Commission.

Imari was recently named one of Boston’s most Influential Bostonians by Boston Magazine and the Boston Business Journals Power 50. He is a three-time graduate of UMass Boston and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. through UMass Boston’s Higher Education Program.