About me
Rob DeLeon serves as the Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of The Fortune Society (Fortune), which provides comprehensive services to more than 18,000 people annually who are impacted by the criminal legal system. Fortune’s integrated model combines clinical and social reentry supports to promote successful community reintegration, as well as policy and legislative advocacy led by the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy, named in honor of Fortune’s founder.
A native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, Mr. DeLeon has spent more than two decades working in juvenile and criminal justice services and reform. He spent the first 13 years of his career at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), where he advanced through a series of leadership roles, including serving on the executive team before joining The Fortune Society more than eight years ago. He began his work as a youth counselor, drawing on his own lived experience with the streets and prison to help young people avoid the pitfalls of street life and to avoid incarceration.
Throughout his career, Mr. DeLeon has helped develop a range of programs across New York City, including Alternative to Detention programs for court-involved youth; Alternative to Incarceration programs for adults and young adults; gun diversion initiatives in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn; and mentoring programs in NYCHA developments in Brooklyn.
As an advocate and spokesperson, Mr. DeLeon has contributed to several major justice reform campaigns in New York State. He served as a spokesperson for the Raise the Age campaign, a reform personally significant to him as someone incarcerated at age 17. He supported the Less Is More parole reform effort; the Fair Chance Act, which promotes equitable employment access for individuals with conviction histories; and has been part of the Campaign to Close Rikers since its inception, which remains a high priority for The Fortune Society. Mr. DeLeon is recognized for his strong working relationships with legislators at the city and state levels, senior officials across government agencies, and funders in the justice reform space. He also serves in a leadership role within the statewide ATI/Reentry Coalition and maintains close collaborative relationships with the heads of reentry and justice organizations in New York and in other localities, such as Chicago, Austin Texas, and Los Angeles.
Across his executive leadership roles at both CASES and The Fortune Society, Mr. DeLeon has overseen large, multi-million-dollar organizational budgets, managed complex program portfolios, and played a central role in developing emerging leaders. He mentors and coaches rising executives both within Fortune and across the broader community-based nonprofit sector.
