Civil rights organization, the NAACP, has selected a new president and CEO.

USA Today reported that pastor and activist Cornell William Brooks was chosen by an overwhelming majority of the NAACP's board of directors at a Friday meeting in Ford Lauderdale. The 53-year-old executive director of the New Jersey Institute of Social Justice will assume the role from former president Benjamin Todd Jealous, who resigned last September.

Brooks said in a statement that he was "deeply humbled and honored" at the selection.

"In our fight to ensure voting rights, economic equality, health equity, and an end to racial discrimination for all people, there is much work to do," Brooks said. "I look forward to working with the dynamic board and staff, and continuing the important work of the Association in advancing racial and social justice and equality for all."

In addition to serving at the New Jersey Institute, Brooks has a number of accolades under his belt. He is a fourth generation ordained minister, the former executive director of the Fair Housing Council of Greater Washington and worked as an attorney for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and was senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. He also has a master's degree in divinity from Boston University School of Theology.

"Brooks has worked to pass legislation enabling previously incarcerated men and women to rebuild their lives as productive and responsible citizens," the NAACP said, as quoted by CNN. "He successfully pushed for state legislation to reduce the effects of widespread foreclosures. Mr. Brooks has worked to develop social impact investing tools to employ more people in higher wage work."

Brooks will officially take on the title in July, at a NAACP board meeting in Las Vegas.

The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the country's oldest civil rights organization, as well as it's largest. The group's mission is to "ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination."