Eddie Francis - Leadership Enthusiast and Speaker

In me, you get a speaker who is energetic, interactive, inspirational, sincere and candid and who also knows when (and when not) to utilize the skills he built as a stand-up comedian. The love for what I do and my desire to reach every single person in the audience is undeniable.

Eddie Francis has spoken to over a quarter of a million people in over half of the states in the nation about career success, leadership, and marketing and communications. A leadership enthusiast, his current topics focus on personal leadership, the leader-follower relationship, and followership. Eddie has spoken for such organizations as the American Marketing Association, Incora, College and University Public Relations and Associated Professionals (CUPRAP), Hannon Hill, the Urban League of Louisiana, Digital Collegium (formerly HighEdWeb), Dallas College, and the National Funeral Directors and Morticians Association.

An award-winning broadcaster, Eddie hosts the talk show "The Way Forward" on WBOK radio in New Orleans. He also hosts the personal leadership podcast "For Our Edification," the higher education employer branding podcast "I Wanna Work There!"--one of Hannon Hill's Best Higher Ed Marketing Podcasts of 2024--and the fraternity and sorority life leadership podcast "Ethocast." He is the past host of "The HBCU Lifestyle Podcast" which was a Podbean top 10 education podcast.

Boasting a diverse professional background, Eddie has been quoted and featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, The Huffington Post, Inside Higher Ed, Careers in Government, The Times-Picayune, Bold Journey, and Al Jazeera America. He has made appearances on various podcasts, including The Horrible Boss Effect, The Higher Ed Marketer, ILLUMENATE, and Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO. Eddie also contributed to the books "Epic Content Marketing for Higher Education" and "From Letters to Leaders: Perseverance and How to Be a Great Fraternity or Sorority Alumnus."

Eddie has led marketing and communications at three institutions of higher learning: Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), Paul Quinn College, and Dillard University. At SUNO, he built the university's brand and spearheaded the 2011 public relations campaign to defeat the State of Louisiana’s proposal to remove the university from the Southern University System. Having served as interim admissions director at Paul Quinn, Eddie contributed to the college's enrollment increase amid significant a public relations challenge. It was at Dillard, however, where he led the development of the “Write Your Legacy” brand evolution campaign, led the university's website rebuild, and expanded Dillard’s brand licensing. Because of his efforts, Eddie was nominated twice for the AMA Foundation’s Higher Education Marketer of the Year.

In a career pivot, Eddie entered talent acquisition where he recruited for award-winning global recruitment firm Cielo and for such brands as Quest Diagnostics, Staples, Lowe’s, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Tyco SimplexGrinnell.

Eddie was honored as one of New Orleans Magazine's "30 People to Watch" and he earned the Press Club of New Orleans’ Best Radio Entertainment Feature award for his interview with Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculée Ilibagiza.

The New Orleans native earned his Master of Professional Studies in strategic leadership from Tennessee State University and his Bachelor of Arts in mass communication from Loyola University New Orleans. Eddie is a member of the American Marketing Association where he served on the planning committee for the Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education. He is also a member of the Press Club of New Orleans and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Eddie is the proud husband of Dr. Halima Leak Francis, the proud father of Stevie, a dog daddy to Allegra, and a cat daddy to Asa.

Because of my tendency to move, I prefer a lavalier microphone and a stage as free of clutter as possible. Bottled water preferred (no particular brand).