Della Britton is the president & CEO of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a national, I.R.C. 501(c)(3) organization established in 1973 to promote education and the values embodied in the life of sports and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson.
Ms. Britton has led the 50-year-old Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF) for twenty years and is responsible for transforming JRF’s celebrated college scholarship program into what the New York Times dubbed “one of the best educational efforts in the country.” Britton greatly expanded and diversified JRF’s funding base and program offerings, grew its endowment, guiding it through gross fluctuations over the past two decades, upgraded JRF’s technological capabilities to state-of-the-art levels and relocated its New York City headquarters. She went on to lead the Foundation’s $42 million National Legacy Campaign to build the Jackie Robinson Museum, which opened in New York City in the summer of 2022.
An entertainment sector lawyer and executive for most of her career, prior to Jackie Robinson Foundation, Ms. Britton served as assistant general attorney for the American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., and as president of Hillside Broadcasting, LLC, and AJM Records, LLC. At ABC, Inc., Britton’s team represented the ABC-owned and operated television and radio stations group, advising on state and federal regulatory compliance, litigation, contract negotiation and broadcast standards. At Hillside Broadcasting in the late 1980s, she managed a group of two major market television and three major market radio stations, which realized a 400% return after four years when the station group was sold.
During her tenure at AJM Records, the company expanded into the pop music genre, supplementing the label’s prior concentration on jazz artists, producing both sustained earnings and a Grammy win for singer and songwriter “Ashanti” who was signed to the label.
Britton served on the board of directors of Legendary Entertainment, and always active in community service, she was a member of the New York Times Institutional Task Force on Race Relations, convened by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger in the 1990s, and a director of many non-profit organizations including Inwood House (NYC), the Dance Theatre of Harlem (NYC), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Wash, D.C.), the Washington Ballet (Wash, D.C.) and the Dwight-Englewood School (Englewood, NJ).
She is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School and the recipient of numerous honors, including a Recognition of Leadership tribute in 2013 from Condoleezza Rice, 66th U.S. Secretary of State; a Certificate of Appreciation in 2012 from the United States Central Intelligence Agency, under Director David H. Petraeus; and a Commendation for Distinguished Leadership in 2008 from William C. Thompson, Jr., former Comptroller of the City of New York; and The Network Journal’s Most Influential Black Women in Business. She has been featured in major publications and media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Daily News, New York Magazine, ABC-TV, CBS-TV, ESPN-TV, ESPN radio’s Mike and Mike Show, Bloomberg News, NPR’s Tavis Smiley Show, and MSNBC’s The Reid Out.
