Professional Affiliation

Director of Youth Guidance’s Becoming a Man

Expert Bio

Anthony (A.J.) Watson is Director of Youth Guidance’s Becoming a Man—a position he has held since 2014. Prior to joining Youth Guidance, he worked for Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) where he oversaw efforts to attract, develop and retain talent by creating a goal oriented culture and a strategy for the agency’s policy advocacy efforts. He has also worked in consulting, organizing, and sales. He is a former Education Pioneer Graduate School Fellow and has also done consulting work for IDEA Public Schools, a public charter school network in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Watson has also spent 13 years as an executive trainer and consultant for FOCUS Training, a leadership training and development firm, worked as an organizer for a gubernatorial campaign, and held finance and sales roles for Fortune 200 firms such as GE, Target, and Wells Fargo. He earned an MBA in human capital and strategy from the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School Of Business and a BBA in finance and political science from Howard University.