MEET DONALD CRAVINS, JR.
Donald Cravins, Senior Vice President for Policy and Executive Director of the Washington Bureau at National Urban League
Don Cravins, Jr. serves as the National Urban League’s Senior Vice President for Policy and Executive Director of the Washington Bureau. Cravins leads the development of the National Urban League’s policy, research, and advocacy agenda, while expending the organization’s impact and influence inside the Capital Beltway.
Since 1998, Cravins has been a practicing attorney and a member of the Louisiana Bar Association. In 2004, he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives. In 2006, Cravins was elected to the Louisiana Senate. During his tenure in the Louisiana Senate, Cravins was heavily involved in post-Hurricane Katrina issues as the Chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee and was an active member of the Juvenile Justice Commission of Louisiana.
Cravins also served as Staff Director and Chief Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and as Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana.
Cravins is a native of Southwest Louisiana; a graduate of Teurlings Catholic High, Louisiana State University and Southern University Law Center.
Don attended LYS in 1988 and 1989 and served on LYS staff from 1990-1997. Don has also been named to the LYS Hall of Fame and he serves as a member of the LYS Advisory Committee.
He is married to Attorney Yvette Puckett Cravins and they have three children, 2nd Year JC Dominique, Trey and Chloe.
MEET DR. ADREN WILSON
Dr. Adren O. Wilson, Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor John Bel Edwards
Dr. Adren Wilson is a talented national leader committed to equity and justice. He currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor John Bel Edwards. Most recently, Dr. Wilson served as the national CEO of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps national service program.
A native of rural Louisiana who himself grew up in extreme poverty, Dr. Wilson has held an escalating series of leadership positions as a national CEO, community leader, administrator, and reformer working to lift individuals, families, and communities out of poverty.
Prior to joining Public Allies in 2014, he led workforce development and community college retention efforts as Gulf Coast Regional Director for Single Stop USA. Previously, he developed transformational leaders for public schools as Executive Director of New Leaders Greater New Orleans; worked to end persistent poverty in the South by leading the Equity and Inclusion Campaign; and as National Director of Youth and Student Leadership at The Children’s Defense Fund.
Wilson earned a Master in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and he has a doctorate in Public Policy from the Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Southern University. He received Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and Political Science from Louisiana State University.
Dr. Wilson is also a member of the LYS family, having been honored as a Roddy Richard Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in 2001.
MEET WALTER "WALT" J. LEGER, III
Walt Leger, Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives and State Rep, District 91
Walter “Walt” J. Leger III is Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives and the Representative for New Orleans’ District 91. He is also a civil litigator with the law firm of Leger & Shaw, where he has practiced law since 2006.
He is a proud graduate of Louisiana State University and Tulane Law School. Following law school, Walt served as a felony prosecutor in the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office, where he earned a reputation as a skilled and fair-minded prosecutor. In the fall of 2007, Walt was first elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives and then re-elected without opposition in 2011 and 2015.
He was unanimously chosen by his colleagues to serve as the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Louisiana House of Representatives in 2012 and again in 2016, the youngest member to ever hold this position. Walt has many legislative achievements he is proud of, including the creation of the Criminal Justice Reinvestment Program and the Louisiana Early Childhood Education Fund.
He is committed to making New Orleans and Louisiana a better place to live, especially as he and his wife, Danielle, raise their two young daughters, Cate and Caroline.