Bio

Dr. Darrell Ezell is an accomplished professor, administrator, author, and corporate strategist. He is the founder and principal consultant of Heritage Solution, a full-service management consulting firm delivering services across industries in research and development, business strategy, and equity strategy development. Notably, his recent appointment included serving as the inaugural Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville's Cummings Research Park. As a member of the senior leadership team, Ezell led the development and implementation of the organization’s first comprehensive diversity action plan and inclusion strategy to advance equity in the Institute’s mission areas of genomic research, STEM education outreach, tech startup/economic development, and workforce engagement.  In this role, Ezell has supported the Institute in growing its research portfolio by attracting over $4M in diversity-related National Science foundation grant awards and private funding.  He started his career as an intern at EPCOT Center with the Walt Disney World College Program.

 

Darrell brings nearly two decades of experience between time in higher education, government, nonprofit management and advising corporate leaders. Prior to joining HudsonAlpha, Darrell served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean at Claremont Lincoln University in Claremont, California, scaling a start-up non-profit online graduate university with a $50M gift from David and Joan Lincoln and led it to initial accreditation under WASC national accrediting body. As an administrator, he holds experience in key areas as: strategic planning faculty affairs, capital improvement projects, fundraising and external relations, online learning, strategic enrollment management, and board leadership.  Throughout his career, he has held numerous faculty appointments as Visiting Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Louisiana State University, Visiting Professor of Religion & History at Shaw University School of Divinity, and on faculty at Tulane and Claremont Lincoln Universities.  He currently serves as a Board Trustee at Rust College in Mississippi.

 

As an Eagle Scout and servant leader, Darrell gives his time to public service as a mayoral appointee to Huntsville’s Human Relations Commission, Leadership Greater Huntsville Flagship Class L-36 , Schmidt Futures Task Force on Synthetic Biology and the Bioeconomy, and as a recent high-level appointee to Innovate Alabama’s Council on Outdoor Recreation. He has also served as an advisory council member with Alabama United led by the State of Alabama Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs. His global commitment to inter-cultural relations received official recognition by The Vatican from Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran and led to his participation as a United Nations Global Expert with the Alliance of Civilizations. In 2017, Darrell was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College and into Sigma Pi Phi (The Boule). 

 

Darrell received his Ph.D. in England from The University of Birmingham (Great Britain), with a dissertation examining faith and cross-cultural communication training strategies to support U.S. diplomats in Arab countries after September 11th.  As a recipient of the Nadir Dinshaw dissertation prize, he held appointments as a research fellow at the U.S. Department of State and the William J. Clinton Foundation/Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. Previous appointments include time at the Interfaith Center of New York and  Interfaith Worker Justice serving as a labor rights advocate for poultry workers in rural Mississippi.  He holds a M.A. in Systematic Theology and Ethics from Union Theological Seminary (an affiliate of Columbia University), and B.A. in Psychology from Alabama A&M University.