Marlon K. Brownlee joined the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race as a Trustee in January 2007. He and his wife have lived in Maplewood for over sixteen years, and they have two children. Marlon has been and continues to be an active leader in numerous community organizations. In addition to the Coalition, Marlon is recognized for his commitment to school-related work, having served on the Executive Committee of the PTA/HSA Presidents Council as President and 1st Vice President; he has also served as President and as Vice President of the South Mountain Elementary School PTA and as Treasurer of the South Orange Middle School HSA. In addition, Marlon served as Co-Chair of the Strategic Planning State of the Schools Committee, part of a strategic planning initiative sponsored by the Board of Education in 2005. He also currently serves as a member of the Township of Maplewood Recreation Advisory Committee and previously was coach of boys and girls basketball teams in the South Orange/Maplewood Recreation Department League. He is also the past President of the Cornell University Black Alumni Association and the past communications chairman of the Independent Computer Consultants Association (ICCA).

In his professional life, Marlon has worked as a business consultant for over twenty years, helping clients around the country evaluate, select and implement business management systems to achieve their strategic objectives. During his career, he has developed the ability to listen carefully to many different kinds of people, to critically analyze complex situations, to formulate clear action plans, to pay close attention to details and to deliver what is promised. He has implemented more than 20 projects at some of the country’s leading companies and organizations, including the City of New York, Liz Claiborne, The Home Depot, Homedics, Jones Apparel Group, Warnaco, Tommy Hilfiger USA, Federated Department Stores, Target, Dun & Bradstreet, Phillips-Van Heusen, J.C. Penney, UPS and The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Marlon and his wife were attracted to South Orange/Maplewood because they wanted to live in a diverse, suburban community that had a school system with a demonstrable commitment to academic excellence. They wanted their children to grow up in an environment that would enrich their lives not just academically but socially as well. As a result, he is passionate about the Coalition’s work, knowing how important the work that they do is in building and maintaining the racially integrated community that attracted his family here originally.

Mr. Brownlee is a graduate of Cornell University and holds an MBA with dual concentrations in Marketing and Management Information Systems from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. In his spare time, he enjoys playing basketball, running, martial arts and bicycling.