The Trevor Project, Spearheading Change for LGBTQ+ Youth

The Trevor Project (Trevor), the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people, announced Jaymes Black as its new CEO. Black, an accomplished senior leader with over 20 years of experience managing high-performing teams at scale, has stepped in to lead the organization. Black will succeed Peggy Rajski, a founder and decades-long board member who stepped in as interim CEO in 2022.

Black’s substantial expertise blends nonprofit and corporate competencies. It spans business and community leadership, LGBTQ+ advocacy and coalition building, fundraising strategy and innovation, large budget oversight and financial acumen, call center operations and user experience and more. In addition to their extensive professional qualifications, they identify as a Black nonbinary lesbian—bringing compelling lived experience that will help The Trevor Project work toward its mission to end suicide among LGBTQ+ young people.

“I am elated and deeply honored to step into the role of CEO at The Trevor Project for so many reasons—especially since this is an organization [that] I desperately needed myself as a queer young person growing up in South Texas,” said Black. “Right now, far too many queer and transgender young people are struggling with thoughts of suicide and other mental health challenges—not because of who they are, but because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized by other people.”

“I know what that feels like, first hand. I also know this is an enormously difficult moment for both Trevor and the young people we serve. Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and the dangerous, demeaning rhetoric surrounding it has reached a record high in this country, and LGBTQ+ young people are constantly being exposed to messages that attempt to invalidate their very identities. As CEO, it is my job to reinforce that LGBTQ+ young people have so many more people who love and support them exactly as they are, than those who wish them harm. This work won’t be easy, but I am ready to roll my sleeves up to help create a world in which all LGBTQ+ young people feel safe, accepted and free to thrive as their truest selves.”

Prior to joining Trevor, Black served as president and CEO at Family Equality, the leading national organization for current and future LGBTQ+ families. Family Equality works to ensure everyone has the freedom to find, form and sustain their families by advancing LGBTQ+ equality through advocacy, support, storytelling and education.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jaymes as our new CEO at such a critical moment for The Trevor Project and for the LGBTQ+ young people we serve,” said Julian Moore, chair of The Trevor Project’s Board of Directors. “The search for Trevor’s new leader was rigorous, and throughout the process, Jaymes established themself as a sort of ‘unicorn’ candidate. Their history of successful leadership in finance, technology and business, combined with leading and growing an LGBTQ+ nonprofit during a historically challenging time for our community, makes Jaymes a uniquely remarkable fit. The role of CEO is a big job, and we are more than confident in Jaymes’ ability to lead The Trevor Project forward.”

Before leading Family Equality, Black had a seasoned career in the corporate sector, where they held various senior leadership roles, including at companies such as Charles Schwab, Sabre Corporation and Northrop Grumman. Black has an MS in Management and was honored on the 2022 Out Magazine’s Out100 list—a compilation of the year’s most impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people.

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This article was originally published on diversitycomm.net.