NMAC (formerly the National Minority AIDS Council) has appointed Harold Phillips as its chief executive officer. Phillips, who previously served as the director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, co-led NMAC with former executive director Paul Kawata through a period of leadership transition. Kawata retired October 7 after nearly four decades of service to the organization and to the HIV movement.

 

Over the past year, Phillips has guided NMAC’s center, coalition, communications, policy and treatment divisions while co-leading the conferences and development divisions. His leadership arrives at a critical moment for both public health and NMAC’s strategic direction. With deep federal experience shaping domestic and global HIV initiatives—­and as someone living with HIV—Phillips brings both professional expertise and personal insight to the role. Having started his career in HIV at NMAC in the 1990s, his return to the organization marks a homecoming.

 

Lance Toma, chair of the NMAC board of directors and CEO of San Francisco Community Health Center, said, “The board has exuberantly elected Harold Phillips as our new CEO. In this unprecedented moment, there is no one more strategically positioned and experienced to lead our movement through what we know will be some of the most tumultuous and complicated times ahead. The board absolutely adores, admires and applauds Paul Kawata; he is a force of nature and over the past 36 years has set up NMAC to fiercely and boldly confront the challenges ahead.”

 

Phillips said, “It will be an extraordinary honor to lead NMAC at such a critical point in the HIV epidemic and in public health overall. Under Paul Kawata’s visionary leadership, NMAC has championed the needs of communities most impacted by HIV—those often furthest from health care and biomedical advances. As we move into our strategic implementation phase, I’m excited to strengthen our dedicated team and expand the partnerships that recognize NMAC’s unique value in ending the HIV epidemic.”