Erwin Lee Acox Jr.

Erwin Lee Acox Jr. joined NRDC in March 2023 with more than a decade of experience in DEI leadership roles. Most recently, he served as director of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion at Tides Network, where he led efforts to address systemic diversity, equity, and inclusion challenges and helped the organization codify its commitment to DEI, improve the employee experience, and accelerate the pipeline of diverse talent at every level. 
 
Previously, Acox led system-wide diversity and inclusion efforts for the nearly 6,000 employees of the Illinois Department of Transportation, launching award-winning recruitment programming and increasing representation of historically excluded identities in employment, contracting, and educational opportunities. In addition to his DEI experience, he previously served in human resources, instructional design and technical writing, and commercial real estate sales roles. 

Acox serves as a member of Roosevelt’s Advisory Board of the College of Arts & Sciences, as well as the Board of Directors of Urban Tilth, a nonprofit organization addressing food system inequities, based in Richmond, California. A decorated veteran of the U.S. Army, Acox is a three-time graduate of the Roosevelt University of Chicago, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology and master’s degrees in instructional design and business administration. He is based in San Francisco.