Bruce S. Gordon spent 35 years in telecommunications before taking what he had learned to the NAACP. Born in Camden, New Jersey, in 1946, he graduated from Gettysburg College in 1968 and went to work at Bell of Pennsylvania as a management trainee.
A biographical account published by Gale describes his later work in sales, personnel and marketing, including promotion to general manager for marketing and sales in 1985. He kept studying along the way and earned a master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Sloan Fellow.
The Library of Congress traces his advancement to marketing vice president in 1988 and group president for retail markets at Bell Atlantic in 1993. At Verizon, he ran the consumer and small-business unit and oversaw corporate advertising and brand management. He retired from that executive career in December 2003.
In 2005, Gordon became president and chief executive of the NAACP, bringing a longtime corporate operator into the leadership of a civil rights organization. The Library of Congress credits his tenure with work on Hurricane Katrina relief and the extension of the Voting Rights Act. He stepped down in March 2007 after 19 months.
Gordon also served on corporate boards, including CBS and Northrop Grumman. In a 2013 Black Enterprise feature on African American directors, he talked about pressing for supplier opportunities and greater representation in senior management, work he said happened through conversations with management and fellow directors.
