The Knoxville Area Urban League has selected Charles F. Lomax Jr. as its new president and chief executive officer to succeed the retiring Phyllis Y. Nichols, who led the organization for two decades. Lomax, the City of Knoxville’s director of community empowerment, will assume the leadership position on Dec. 12, 2022.
Lomax emerged from a pool of candidates considered during a national search conducted in cooperation with the National Urban League. He has served as a city director for nearly three years.
As Knoxville’s director of community empowerment, Lomax serves as a liaison between community organizations and the city, addressing concerns and collaborating for meaningful change and a more equitable place to live and work. He helped establish the city’s Empower Knox initiative, an effort to improve the lives of at-risk youth and young adults and empower the organizations that serve them. He also has been the pastor at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Alcoa for more than a decade.