Scott Davenport was the Chief Operating Officer at Freedom to Marry and has a background both as a corporate executive and as an activist for LGBT rights.
He joined Freedom to Marry in early 2008 and helped founder and President Evan Wolfson transform the organization into the multi-faceted campaign that won marriage nationwide in 2015.
Prior to his leadership with Freedom to Marry, Scott served as Managing Vice President with Capital One. During his ten-year tenure with the firm, he was the chief Human Resources officer for the 8,000 employee Credit Card Division where he led an organization of 80 HR professionals that maintained single digit attrition. During the second part of his time in financial services, Scott led the change management program for and helped lead Capital One’s new Enterprise Risk Management function whose work elevated its bond rating adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the firm’s market capitalization.
For the first 17 years of his career, Scott served as a Vice President for Oliver Wyman Consulting assisting Fortune 500 companies enhance their strategic direction. Client assignments he led restructured the manufacturing, distribution and inventory management operation for L’Eggs Hosiery that resulted in overall cost savings of 10%, inventory reductions of 50% and improved service levels; and developed a revised strategic approach for Owens Corning Fiberglas as part of a successful defense of a hostile takeover by Lowes Corporation. During the final years of his time at Oliver Wyman, Scott served as the firm’s Partner in Charge of Human Resources.
Scott’s introduction as an LGBT activist began with the birth of his two children through surrogacy to him and his ex-husband in 1990 and 1992. A pioneer in the LGBT parenting movement, Scott became the first legal father through co-parent adoption in the District of Columbia in 1991. He was the co-founder of the now 20-year old Family Week in Provincetown, MA, and served as the Co-Chair of the Board of Family Equality Council. He later served as Chair of the Board of Equality Maryland, the state’s LGBT lobbying group for six years, and as Treasurer of Equality Maryland’s PAC he chaired an event that raised over $50,000 in one night for the PAC. Scott also recently completed a one-year term as a Board member for Big Apple Performing Arts, the home of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus.
Scott graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with both a Bachelor of Economics and an MBA after completing a special 5-year accelerated program of study. While there he received the Steuer Award for academic excellence and was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the Business Honor Society. Scott exercised his freedom to marry in 2014, and he and his husband, Brad, reside in Palm Springs, CA.
During his tenure, Freedom to Marry became its own independent pair of non-profit entities, a 501c3 doing public education and a 501c4 doing public advocacy. Scott created the infrastructure that allowed the campaign to grow ten-fold in size over just 4 years.
