WASHINGTON -- The NAACP has selected Cornell Williams Brooks to become its new national president and CEO.
Brooks, 53, of Annandale, New Jersey, will become the organization's 18th national president. He's currently the president and CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, a Newark-based urban research and advocacy organization.
NAACP chair Roslyn Brock told The Associated Press of the selection Saturday morning. He will be formally presented to the organization at its national convention in Las Vegas in July.
Brooks is a minister and former lawyer for the Federal Communication Commission and the Justice Department. He also ran for Congress as a Democrat in Virginia in 1998.
He replaces Lorraine Miller, who has been serving as the group's interim leader since Benjamin Jealous ended his five-year tenure last year.