Dr. Portia Ballard Espy
President & CEO, Mississippi Urban League
Dr. Portia Ballard Espy is President and CEO of the Mississippi Urban League, Incorporated
where she assumed leadership in June of 2021.
Dr. Espy has vast executive-level human resource management experience in manufacturing,
energy, aerospace, and nonprofit sectors for several companies, including Pellerin Milnor
Corporation, subsidiaries of Royal Dutch Shell plc, Entergy Corporation, and Raytheon
Aerospace. She has served as Assistant Director of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Mid-South
Delta Initiative, Chief Administrative Officer at Children’s Defense Fund’s – Southern Regional
Office, and Executive Director of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation (now
known as the Alluvial Collective).
Dr. Espy earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Jackson State University and
a certificate in nonprofit management from Harvard Kennedy School. Dr. Espy also holds a
Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and an M.B.A.
from Loyola University of New Orleans.