Clarence Booth

Clarence Booth is a Manager within West Monroe Partners in the Customer Solutions practice. He leads teams within the firm that implement large-scale technology transformations that help companies accelerate growth and deliver on their customer promise. Clarence also founded and oversees the firm’s Small Minority-Owned Business Initiative which provides entrepreneurs of color access to professional advisory services and capital to scale their business. He also serves as advisor to the firm’s executive leadership on its firmwide Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy. He is a Chicago native and is a member of New Life Covenant South East, a non-denominational church fostering life-changing Christian experiences through prayer, word, worship, outreach, and community development.

In 2021, Clarence Booth was elected President of the Emmaus Board of Directors by his peers. We are grateful for Clarence’s leadership in this season of increased impact and look forward to what the Lord will do through him. We asked him to share his thoughts on his new role.

“Three years ago, I was introduced to EMMAUS by a Christian colleague who’d been supporting the organization for many years. The organization was undergoing a significant transition in its board and executive leadership that constrained its capacity to operate and grow. I met with members of the board and the team to help craft proposed strategies and tactics to help improve organizational resilience and enable growth. Little did I know that planting such a seed would open the door to my serving on the board of EMMAUS the following year when Noah came on board as the new ED.

Pre-pandemic, it became increasingly difficult for me to commit to serving directly in a ministry at my church, given my weekly travel schedule for client commitments. Emmaus allowed me to serve right from where I stood, using my business strategy and technology knowledge to help a Christ-centered organization transform itself. As Christians, we tend to separate our work life from our faith, not realizing that kingdom work can still manifest God’s glory in our corporate positions. Not everyone needs to serve from the pulpit, and we must not limit what God can do and where.

Before joining EMMAUS, I was unaware of male-identified survivors of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) wishing to journey out of the sex trade. I am acutely aware of how our society denies the full humanity of our boys and young men, thinking they are impervious to emotional and physical trauma.

The opportunity to expand the narrative in the sex trafficking space in a way that makes room for these narratives with those of young girls and women was a compelling opportunity to lead and serve where few had done so historically.

Since my tenure as chairman, the organization has worked hard to reinvent itself from a scrappy street ministry to taking our mission online – where most commercial sex trafficking occurs today – and improving our direct services to clients, marry our Christian faith with clinical approaches. We’re making big, pragmatic bets towards growth. Our donors, along with the board and staff, play a significant and extraordinary role in the realization of this new vision. With donor support, we not only meet the need of victims locally in Chicago but become a model for scaling services nationally.”