Calvin O. Butts, III | Markle
Calvin O. Butts, III | Markle

Calvin O. Butts, III

Pastor, The Abyssinian Baptist Church
President, State University of New York College at Old Westbury
Member, Rework America

Calvin O. Butts, III, is the pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City and president of the State University of New York College at Old Westbury. He co-founded the Abyssinian Development Corporation, responsible for over $600 million in housing and commercial development in Harlem, as well as the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change, a public intermediate and high school. Butts also oversees the church’s involvement on many community development initiatives, including homelessness, senior citizen and youth empowerment, cultural awareness, and ecumenical outreach. At Old Westbury, he has reinvigorated one of the most diverse liberal arts colleges in America, guiding the campus to the largest enrollment in its history, growing its full-time faculty, investing more than $100 million in new facilities and technologies, and expanding the services it provides to support and aid its students and community.