Doug Shipman was elected president of the Atlanta City Council in November 2021.   He comes to public office after a long history of demonstrated leadership in Atlanta for Atlantans. He believes that a prosperous Atlanta is a place that invests in relationships before a crisis happens and that Atlanta can be a national model for the expansive growth in diversity that America is experiencing.

Doug Shipman joins the City Council after serving three years as the CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center. There, Shipman focused on diversifying offerings and patrons and improving fiscal and operational management of the third-largest arts center in the United States. Under Doug’s leadership, the Woodruff Arts Center embraced and featured artists of all backgrounds enabling them with equal access to, and the ability to prosper in the ever-growing Georgia arts industry.

Prior to the Woodruff, Shipman served eight years as the founding CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Before being named its CEO, Shipman led the Center’s $100 million fundraising campaign, and he also led the efforts to design, build, and launch the Center successfully. He also supported the effort to secure and pay for the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Collection at Morehouse College.

Shipman has served as a speaker and consultant to some of Atlanta’s most transformative companies. He was a principal at the Boston Consulting Group and was CEO of BCG BrightHouse consulting. Under his leadership, the firms created jobs, expanded offices and clients nationally and internationally, paving the way for their clients to be instrumental in infrastructure and strategic planning for their respective communities.

Shipman has a track record for civic engagement and community service. His civic appointments have included Cyclorama task force and the Xernona Clayton street renaming commission. Shipman has served as a board member for several nonprofit organizations including Easter Seals of North Georgia, The Carter Center, Midtown Alliance, the Metro Chamber of Commerce, Advisory Council of the Islamic Speakers Bureau, Honorary Board of the Anti-Defamation League (SE Chapter), and the Out of Hand Theatre.

A magna cum laude graduate from Emory University in Atlanta, Shipman also holds a Master of Theological Studies Degree from the Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Public Policy Degree from the Harvard Kennedy School.  He is a long-time resident of the historic Old Fourth Ward, and enjoys spending quality family time—especially cooking—with his wife and their two young daughters.