James Cadogan

James Cadogan was appointed the first Executive Director of the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition in April 2021. Formed jointly by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association in 2020, the Coalition is a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that leads the NBA family’s collaborative efforts to address racial inequality and advance social justice. A first-of-its-kind entity in the sports and media sector, the Coalition leverages the game of basketball’s influence to promote justice policy reforms at the national, state, and local levels. Cadogan joined the NBA family from Arnold Ventures, a national philanthropy, where he was a vice president overseeing a $90 million grant portfolio on criminal justice reform. Prior to Arnold Ventures, Cadogan served as the inaugural director of the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Previously, Cadogan served eight years in the administration of President Barack H. Obama, where he was a senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice – holding roles as Counselor to the Attorney General of the United States and as Senior Counselor and Director of Policy & Planning in the Civil Rights Division. Earlier, he served as an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Department of Defense. For his public service contributions, Cadogan was recognized with the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service, the department’s highest award for employee performance, as well as the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence. During the 2008 presidential election, Cadogan was a campaign staffer with Obama For America. He began his career as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP. Cadogan received an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He sits on the boards of Vera Action, Community Change, and Statesmen College Preparatory Academy for Boys in Washington, D.C. A first-generation immigrant born in England to Caribbean parents, Cadogan lives in Ward 4 of the District of Columbia with his wife, Maya Martin Cadogan, a non-profit executive and proud sixth-generation Washingtonian.