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Murray Woodard II, M.B.A.
Chief Executive Officer
Murray Woodard is an accomplished education and nonprofit professional. As CEO of BLAQUE Promise Project, he is dedicated to helping Black students in Kansas City's public schools realize their fullest potential. A native of Kansas City, Woodard has spent the past 15 years at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he led community engagement practices, built and enhanced external relationships, managed learning opportunities, and helped develop a policy engagement strategy throughout the Foundation.
Murray played a pivotal role in the creation, development, and funding of many of the region's most important education support organizations, including BLAQUE KC, BLAQUE Promise Project, BLOC Brothers Liberating Our Community, Latinx Education Collaborative, Maranatha Education, and Parent Power Lab. In addition, he actively serves as an advisor, mentor, and thought partner to many other community organizations.
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Murray's professional accomplishments have been recognized through several honors and awards. Most notably, he was a 2020 recipient of the KC Chamber Ace Award, which honors up-and-coming senior-level managers who are actively involved in advocating for the expansion of their company's Diversity & Inclusion and supplier diversity efforts. He participated in the Connecting Leaders Fellowship Program (ABFE), a nationally competitive year-long program aimed at sharpening skills and strengthening leadership capacity among foundation staff, donors, and trustees committed to supporting Black communities through philanthropy.
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Murray is also actively involved in various professional affiliations. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees at the Kansas City Art Institute since 2018. From 2019 to 2021, he served as a Steering Committee Member for the KC Chamber’s Centurions Program. Additionally, he was an Advisory Board Member for SXSWEdu from 2017 to 2020. He joined the board of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City in 2024.
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Leadership
