
Phyllis Y. Nichols, right, with Knoxville City Council member and Urban League board member Gwen McKenzie at a reception prior to the Urban League Gala last week. McKenzie’s father was the first president and CEO of the Knoxville Area Urban League.
It’s been a big couple of weeks for Phyllis Y. Nichols, the longtime president and CEO of the Knoxville Area Urban League. Nichols, who announced last June that she would retire in the fall, has been the longest-serving CEO of the five leaders in the organization’s 54-year history in Knoxville.
In December, she will officially turn over the reins to Rev. Charles Lomax, who will take over after serving for three years as the City of Knoxville’s director of community empowerment. He was selected after a nationwide search. The decision by the Urban League’s board of directors to hire him was unanimous.
Last week, during the Urban League’s annual fundraising gala, which attracted over 800 attendees to the Knoxville Convention Center, Nichols took a final bow and was surprised by the announcement that the Urban League would endow a $250,000 scholarship in her name. She also received the Whitney M. Young Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award, the most prestigious of all Urban League awards.
And, just when it seemed that things couldn’t get any better, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced that she was donating $1.5 million to the Knoxville Area Urban League, the largest gift in its history.
Nichols will stay on a short while as a consultant to help with the transition, but we understand that travel plans are being made. Continue reading