Shawn Dove, a founder, activist and motivational speaker, will give the keynote address at Baruch College’s commencement ceremony on May 26 at Barclays Center.

“Dove has nearly four decades of cross-sector leadership in the fields of youth and leadership development, community-building, philanthropy, arts education, and media literacy,” a Baruch press release said.

Dove is currently a managing partner for venture philanthropy firm New Profit Inc. It supports breakthrough social entrepreneurs by bringing together “the rigor of venture capital and the humanity of the nonprofit sector,” its website said.

At New Profit, he manages philanthropic investments and advises social entrepreneurs.

“I am a speaker, author, and advocate for leaders who want to improve the lives of young people, particularly Black men and boys,” Dove’s website said. “But more importantly, I am a husband and father, so I bring all of me, the good, the bad, and the not so pretty to this work.”

Last year, Dove founded the Corporation for Black Male Achievement, CBMA. It is a national consulting and publishing firm that curates community-building and leadership development initiatives for Black males.

It is a spin-off of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement, which began in 2008 as an Open Society Foundations initiative. As a national intermediary membership organization, it was committed to ensuring the growth of leaders and organizations that improve the life outcomes of Black males.

It became an independent entity in 2015, with Dove as its chief executive officer until March 2022. Under his leadership, the organization leveraged more than $212 million in national and local funds. It grew by nearly 6,000 people and 3,000 organizational members, according to LinkedIn.

Dove also held leadership roles in multiple community-based organizations, including as a program director of the Harlem Children’s Zone Countee Cullen Community Center; executive director of The DOME Project; director of youth ministries for First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens; creative communities director for the National Guild for Community Schools of the Arts and vice president of MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership.

Dove is the co-author of “I Too Am America: On Loving and Leading Black Men & Boys,” which is both a memoir and a historical account of CBMA. He wrote it with Pulitzer-prizewinning journalist Nick Chiles.

“Shawn graciously shares his lessons of leadership, love, and sacrifice for the world to see and learn from, and we all should be truly grateful,” Wes Moore, a New York Times bestselling author, said about the book. “Nick Chiles also lends his time and talent, and his amazing experiences to the pages of this incredible book. This book should be read, analyzed, and copied to make our world a better place.”

He founded Harlem Overheard, an award-winning youth-produced newspaper, in 1995. He served as its editor-in-chief for five years.

Dove also founded Proud Poppa in 2005. It is a news magazine devoted to “celebrate, elevate and replicate fatherhood success principles in the Black community,” according to LinkedIn.

“Dove has a long-standing commitment to multimedia that amplifies and reframes the voices and stories of Black people and their communities and to investing in people of color-led media companies and productions,” the Baruch press release said.

He has also received numerous awards, such as the key to the city of Louisville, Kentucky, by Mayor Greg Fischer in 2018, Black Enterprise’s “Modern Man of the Year” in 2017 and Ebony Magazine’s “Power 100” in 2015.

He also received Prime Movers’ fellowship for social impact leaders in 2014 and Columbia University’s Charles H. Revson Fellowship.

Dove received his education from Wesleyan University, a liberal arts university in Connecticut.

“I’m on a mission to inspire, mentor and connect 2,000 additional leaders by 2025 who are committed to youth development, community-building, advancing racial equity and social justice issues,” Dove said on his website.

He lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.