Boys & Girls Clubs CEO Zell Long to Retire June 30

Boys & Girls Clubs of North Mississippi CEO Zell Long said she will step down effective June 30, ending a 16-year run that began when she was hired as executive in 2010. Long leads a five-location operation that includes two sites in Tupelo, plus clubs in Oxford, Ripley and New Albany, and serves more than 1,600 members ages 6 to 18.

Long’s leadership follows a long public-service career in northeast Mississippi. Before joining the clubs, she spent 34 years with the City of Tupelo in positions that included Director of Community Development, then retired from the city and was hired to lead the chapter in 2010. Long’s connection to the Boys & Girls Clubs traces back to the mid-1990s; one account records she was recruited as a board member in 1995, while another notes she was part of a CREATE Foundation committee instrumental in establishing clubs in north Mississippi in 1996.

The chapter’s track record under Long includes staff and member metrics that speak to scale and daily operations: Long oversees nine full-time staff and 30 part-time staff and volunteers, and members have an average grade point average of 3.5. Programs across the five locations are described as providing recreational activities and life-skills instruction, and Long was reported as “especially looking forward to next week’s grand opening of the new location for the Ripley Club.”

Long’s tenure has been recognized with multiple honors. Her awards include the Professional of the Year Award in 2014, the Distinguished Service Award in 2016, induction into the Mississippi Boys & Girls Club Hall of Fame in 2024 as one of five inductees in the third class, and the David W. Roark “Light The Path” Award in 2025. Reflecting on a Hall of Fame nod, Long said, “Because they had submitted my name and I was selected.” She added, “When I look back over the information that was submitted, and how long I have been involved, some of the things I have achieved as CEO, it was humbling.”

The organization has appointed a Search Committee led by their president, Lisa Nichols, and with guidance from Boys & Girls Clubs of America, who will direct the Committee through the process of recruiting and interviewing prospective leaders to fill the executive position. Long will remain with the organization through June 30 and will be part of the transition period while the Search Committee conducts its work.

Operationally, the leadership change comes with tangible assets and obligations: five physical club sites, a membership base exceeding 1,600 youth, and a combined staff of 39 people in full- and part-time roles who deliver daily programming. The Search Committee’s choices over the next months will determine continuity for the Oxford club in Lafayette County and for the upcoming Ripley grand opening, and will shape how the chapter sustains academic and life-skills outcomes reflected in the reported 3.5 average GPA.