Shirley C. Franklin is Executive Chair of the Board for Purpose Built Communities, Inc., an organization established to transform struggling neighborhoods into sustainable communities since 2011. Also, Franklin has served as the Barbara Jordan Visiting Professor at the University of Texas-Austin, LBJ School of Public Affairs. Franklin has an extensive background in executive management and government leadership.
Franklin served as Mayor of the City of Atlanta from 2002 to 2010 and served in cabinet positions in the City of Atlanta, including Chief of Operations and Chief Administrative Officer, from 1978 to 1991, prior to her election as mayor in 2001.
Franklin is the Co-Chair of the Atlanta Regional Commission on Homelessness and is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
Franklin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from Howard University and a Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.