A Concerned Citizen

Josh firmly believes in the power of people to work collectively to improve and shape their community. He has always been involved in the communities in which he lives. Sometimes that has been through the jobs he has chosen to do. As was the case when he lived in New Haven, CT and helped run LEAP (Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership), an educational and social development program for inner city kids; or when he was a tenant and community organizer in Harlem, New York. At other times Josh's community involvement has been as a volunteer, for example as a founding board member and then Treasurer of Groundwork, Inc. A non-profit organization that helps neighbors build powerful communities and provides high-quality educational programs and support services to the families who live in East New York, one of New York City's poorest communities.

Josh has put that belief into practice here in Takoma Park as Treasurer of Friends of the Takoma Park Maryland Library and as a member of the Health Services Impact Committee, the Economic Restructuring Committee of Main Street Takoma and the Safe Takoma Advisory Board. Josh has also helped the community in smaller ways by selling raffle tickets to support the Takoma Park 4th of July parade and helping to distribute the PEN Newsletter.

A pragmatic proven leader who brings people together Josh has an inclusive leadership style. He has a proven ability to listen to disparate ideas and voices and then bring people together around a common vision. This is routed in a confidence and comfort with his own beliefs, which are based on facts, values, and observation and not ideology. This enables him to easily incorporate others ideas in with his own, while pushing towards what is right and just.

Josh has used these skills in a variety of environments for the benefit of those around him. Here are a few examples of which Josh is proudest.

• In Central Harlem in the mid-1990s the city of New York owned almost 60% of the real estate as a result of tax for closures and real estate speculation. The living conditions in many buildings were some of the worst in all of New York City. Josh worked with tenants in a number of apartment buildings to put aside their personal differences and band together around the common goal of purchasing their apartment buildings and turning them into safe, clean, and livable affordable housing for all tenants in the form of low income non-profit co-ops.
• Random House, Inc is a company with a very entrepreneurial spirit. Its six publishing divisions act almost as a federation then a traditional company. The CEO rarely rules by edict. In this environment collaborative leadership is a must. Here are two examples where Josh brought people together to create positive social change.
• Random House is one of the largest consumers of book paper in the United States. Josh lead the company to institute an environmental paper policy, with specific targets for use of recycled fiber and preferences for paper created using paper pulp from responsible forest stewardship, like FSC certified forests.
• Josh led the creation of a new business division with Random House, taking the publishing house beyond just book publishing into media and technology services. The new division brought additional stability to the company and created additional jobs for people in New York and Westminster, Maryland.

Josh is now using these leadership talents to improve the city where he lives Takoma Park, Maryland.

Background Born Joshua L. Wright in Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Western Massachusetts. From age 2 he grew up in the South End, at the time one of the few racially and economically diverse Neighborhoods in Boston. Josh attend public school in Boston (except for 3 years when the busing crisis, when his racially diverse neighborhood school was closed and his parents had few good choices but to send him to a private school), including the acclaimed Boston Latin School. His mother Judi is a lifelong public servant. For the last 20 years she has been a community organizer for the Boston Police department helping to reduce crime by working with communities to establish neighborhood crime watches. She has also held positions at the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination, and the United South End Settlements Harriett Tubman House. His Father Paul was a long time editor and publisher for University of Massachusetts Press. Paul retired last year, but continues to write and edit in the areas of American History and American Studies.

Josh graduated from Wesleyan University with a BA in economics. He was a college athlete and winner of the Wesleyan Football programs 1992 Eck Memorial Award (to the player who exemplifies the best in team spirit, sportsmanship and devotion). In addition, Josh holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a design certificate from the Harvard Graduate School of Designs Career Discovery Program.

Josh has worked in both the non-profit and for profit sector. He was part of the management team at the non-profit organization LEAP (Leadership, Education, and Athletics in Partnership), an educational and social development program for inner city kids in the cities of Connecticut. He then worked for the Rheedlens Center Community Pride organization as a tenant and community organizer helping tenants to buy their apartment buildings from the city of New York or private Landlords and turn them into low income non-profit co-ops. His work in the business world has been as a Senior Associate in the Media and Entertainment practice at Booz Allen and Hamilton, and as part of the senior management team at Random House, Inc the largest English language publisher in the world. Most recently as the President of the Random House Media and Technology Services Division. Currently Josh is working on economic development and social venture issues as a consultant for the Center for Community Change, a national non-profit, which helps low-income people, especially people of color, build powerful, effective organizations through which they can change their communities and public policies for the better.

Josh and his wife, Eliza Leighton, a lawyer for Casa de Maryland, live on Maple Ave in Takoma Park with their two children Aviva, 3, and Isaac 5 months..