Dr. Nashid Madyun has served as the executive director of Florida Humanities since May 2020, where he has brought two decades of experience as an historian, museum professional and educator to the second-largest humanities council in the country.
Madyun, a native of Helena, Arkansas, holds degrees in history from Delta State University (Cleveland, Mississippi) and Mississippi Valley State University. With a love of storytelling, he pursued and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University.
After working for the Department of Arkansas Heritage, he obtained a Doctorate in Management, conducting research in nonprofit sustainability and organizational leadership. His career would eventually take a path toward the museum world. Madyun, just in his 20s, helped develop and operate what would become known as the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. He went on to work as the Director of Museum and Archives at Hampton University and the Director of the Southeastern Regional Black Archives at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee. As director of the archives, Nashid raised $3.7 million in philanthropic gifts from public and private donors. He also raised funds for the renovation project of the Historic House, as well as launching a new auxiliary African American Art Gallery in downtown Tallahassee.
Dr. Madyun has served on a host of boards and public service commissions, including the Blues Foundation, the Austin Arts Council, Arkansas Black History Commission, Virginia State Heritage Preservation Board, and the Visit Florida Cultural, Heritage, Rural And Nature Committee, and the African American History Task Force for the State of Florida.
