Blair Taylor ('90)

Blair Taylor has more than 30 years of organizational leadership experience, having held senior leadership roles across the private, nonprofit, and public sectors. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor and Lecturer at UCLA’s Anderson School, where he teaches Social Impact.

Most recently, he served as the Managing Director of Talent & Organization, and Practice Lead of North American Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) for Accenture, while also serving as a member of the Leadership Team for the firm’s CEO Transformation practice. Taylor joined Accenture, from Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), where he was a Partner in the People and Organization Practice and led the firm’s DEI practice.

Prior to PwC, Taylor served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of My Brother’s Keeper (MBK), a nonprofit launched by then President Obama. In this role, he led one of the nation’s most dynamic and ambitious BIPOC initiatives, engaging leading corporations, nonprofits, and Mayors from across the nation, advancing opportunities and opening doors for low-income communities and populations.

Taylor joined MBK, after serving as a member of the Starbucks Coffee Company’s Senior Leadership Team. At Starbucks, Taylor reported to CEO Howard Schultz and led the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), community affairs and government affairs functions He eventually also served as Executive Vice President (EVP) of Starbucks Global Human Resources and President of the Starbucks Foundation. In these various roles, Taylor had a direct reporting staff of more than 500 in an organization of more than 250,000 worldwide employees.

He also spent seven years as President and CEO of the Los Angeles Urban League, one of the LA region’s premier nonprofits, and four years as the Executive Vice President of College Summit, then America’s largest college access initiative for low-income students. His private sector experience also includes four years as the President and CEO of a private retail franchising company focused on low-income communities in the U.S. and the Caribbean, and more than eight years of leadership with PepsiCo and IBM, where he held various brand marketing, strategy, and executive sales positions.

Taylor has been frequently recognized for his efforts in driving innovative social impact and Corporate Social Responsibility. Fast Company Magazine named him one of the nation’s most creative senior executives, he was named a Top 50 innovator by PR Week, and a Top 50 CEO by the NonProfit Times, to highlight a few examples. Taylor was also named as one of the UCLA Anderson’s Top 100 graduates.

Taylor holds a BA in economics from Amherst College, where he also served a six-year term as a Trustee, and an MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Studies from UCLA Anderson School of Management.