Imari Paris Jeffries

President & CEO, Embrace

Imari Paris Jeffries, Ph.D., is President and CEO of Embrace, an arts, culture, and community organization reshaping public memory as public policy and advancing belonging through justice. His work begins with a simple premise: cities are shaped not only by policy and economics, but by story, monument, silence, and who is remembered.

Under his leadership, Embrace has grown into a civic force committed to centering Black life in public space. The Embrace Monument on Boston Common honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King stands as a declaration that love, struggle, and Black life belong at the heart of the city's landscape. What began as a monument has evolved into a movement, paired with institutional commitments designed to shift culture in lasting ways. Beyond this first monument, Imari has advanced collaboration on the WEB Du Bois Monument and a forthcoming national arts and civic center in Downtown Crossing, envisioned as a twenty-first century civic home where culture and democracy meet.

Before leading Embrace, Imari served in executive leadership roles at Parenting Journey, the Italian Home for Children, Jumpstart, Boston Rising, and Friends of the Children Boston, consistently strengthening governance, stabilizing finances, and embedding equity as an operational discipline. A dedicated civic leader, Imari serves as a Trustee of the University of Massachusetts System and on the boards of Boston Ballet and GBH. He has been recognized among Boston Magazine's 100 Most Influential Bostonians and is a recipient of the Mel King Social Innovator Award. A four-time graduate of UMass Boston, and a United States Army veteran, he lives in Boston with his family.