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CEO CONNECTION
Michael P. McMillan
President & Chief Executive Officer 
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Michael P. McMillan has dedicated his entire life to public service. He currently serves as President and CEO of The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis (ULSTL), a nonprofit organization providing social services in the St. Louis region since 1918. The St. Louis Urban League is an affiliate of the National Urban League headquartered in New York City; it was the first affiliate to be awarded a Five-Star Rating which it holds to this day. President McMillan has been part of the Urban League movement since he joined the St. Louis affiliate at 16 years old.
The Urban League’s mission is “to assist African Americans and others throughout the region in securing economic
self-reliance, social equality and civil rights.” Each year, the Urban League serves nearly 200,000 residents through programming supporting economic opportunity, educational excellence, community empowerment, public safety initiatives, civil rights and advocacy.
President McMillan has grown the agency from a $17 million annual budget in 2013 to $46 million in 2021 with 20 locations, 60 programs and 350 staff. President McMillan led a merger with the historic Grace Hill Settlement House resulting in a combined $38 million infusion for Head Start/Early Head Start and the addition of a Women’s Business Center. President McMillan, in 2020, completed acquisition of a historic former Sears department store in the heart of the African-American community (The Victor Roberts Building) and has begun a $40 million restoration project creating a new Regional Headquarters.
President McMillan mobilized a record number of volunteers and public and private partners to execute the largest and most efficient COVID-19 emergency relief effort in the state raising millions and providing food, masks, gloves, vaccinations, testing, sanitization supplies, and PPE to more than 250,000 families in 43 large-scale relief operations.
In response to the crisis in Ferguson, President McMillan created the Save Our Sons program in St. Louis County to help over 2,500 African-American men find jobs and hosted the Urban League’s largest job fair in its history. President McMillan envisioned and stewarded the building of the Urban League Community Empowerment Center of Ferguson on the site of a former Quick Trip convenience store that was burned down during the crisis.
Prior to his role with the Urban League, President McMillan had a distinguished career as a public servant in the City of
St. Louis. He was the youngest person elected as a member of the Board of Aldermen and as License Collector in the city’s history. President McMillan has received hundreds of awards and commendations from various organizations and was recently named the 2020 Person of the Year by The St. Louis American Newspaper. He was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame as its youngest member.
President McMillan is a member of Boards of Directors of the following companies and organizations: Chairman of the Harris Stowe State University Board of Regents, The Xernona Clayton Foundation, The U.S. Bank Advisory Board, The
St. Louis Sports Commission, Heat Up St. Louis, Inc. (Cool Down St. Louis), The St. Louis Community Foundation, The Municipal Opera, the Greater St. Louis Area Council-Boy Scouts of America, and the Simmons Bank Community Advisory Board. President McMillan is a graduate of Saint Louis University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in African American Studies and a minor in Political Science with an emphasis in Finance.
The Urban League’s mission is “to assist African Americans and others throughout the region in securing economic
self-reliance, social equality and civil rights.” Each year, the Urban League serves nearly 200,000 residents through programming supporting economic opportunity, educational excellence, community empowerment, public safety initiatives, civil rights and advocacy.
President McMillan has grown the agency from a $17 million annual budget in 2013 to $46 million in 2021 with 20 locations, 60 programs and 350 staff. President McMillan led a merger with the historic Grace Hill Settlement House resulting in a combined $38 million infusion for Head Start/Early Head Start and the addition of a Women’s Business Center. President McMillan, in 2020, completed acquisition of a historic former Sears department store in the heart of the African-American community (The Victor Roberts Building) and has begun a $40 million restoration project creating a new Regional Headquarters.
President McMillan mobilized a record number of volunteers and public and private partners to execute the largest and most efficient COVID-19 emergency relief effort in the state raising millions and providing food, masks, gloves, vaccinations, testing, sanitization supplies, and PPE to more than 250,000 families in 43 large-scale relief operations.
In response to the crisis in Ferguson, President McMillan created the Save Our Sons program in St. Louis County to help over 2,500 African-American men find jobs and hosted the Urban League’s largest job fair in its history. President McMillan envisioned and stewarded the building of the Urban League Community Empowerment Center of Ferguson on the site of a former Quick Trip convenience store that was burned down during the crisis.
Prior to his role with the Urban League, President McMillan had a distinguished career as a public servant in the City of
St. Louis. He was the youngest person elected as a member of the Board of Aldermen and as License Collector in the city’s history. President McMillan has received hundreds of awards and commendations from various organizations and was recently named the 2020 Person of the Year by The St. Louis American Newspaper. He was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame as its youngest member.
President McMillan is a member of Boards of Directors of the following companies and organizations: Chairman of the Harris Stowe State University Board of Regents, The Xernona Clayton Foundation, The U.S. Bank Advisory Board, The
St. Louis Sports Commission, Heat Up St. Louis, Inc. (Cool Down St. Louis), The St. Louis Community Foundation, The Municipal Opera, the Greater St. Louis Area Council-Boy Scouts of America, and the Simmons Bank Community Advisory Board. President McMillan is a graduate of Saint Louis University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in African American Studies and a minor in Political Science with an emphasis in Finance.
