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AVAILABLE NOW · NEW RELEASE · HISTORY AND DEMOCRACY

Black Ballots, Broken Promises

How Black Voters Built American Democracy, and How the Playbook Keeps Trying to Erase It

On April 29, 2026, just over nine weeks before America’s 250th birthday, the Supreme Court made one of the Voting Rights Act’s most important protections far harder to enforce. The law John Lewis bled for still stands on the books. What has fallen is its power to protect. This book documents the 164-year pattern that made that moment inevitable, and the 164-year resistance that refused to accept it.

Paperback $59.99 · 750 pages · 17 chapters · 164 years

Price Check

College retailers list this book as high as ~~$75.93~~ on TextbookX. It is $59.99 direct.

Also available at Barnes & Noble, Walmart, TextbookX, Bookshop.org, and IngramSpark.

Order on Amazon · $59.99 → Inside the Book →

LEADERSHIP

Transitioning Towers

The battle-tested playbook for military-to-civilian executive crossings. Written by a twenty-year Navy veteran who made the crossing himself.

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CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Pinky-Winky, Will You Be My Friend?

Sing-along stories of friendship and kindness for ages 3 to 8. The companion coloring book is available now.

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THE STORY

The leader behind the work.

Kelvin L. Parks, M.A., builds organizations that perform and leaders who endure. He has taken on some of the hardest turnaround assignments in federal and enterprise leadership, and left every one stronger than he found it.

As a chief operating officer and chief executive officer, across more than twenty years of executive leadership he led eight organizations in seven states, representing a combined operating budget of roughly $1.25 billion and more than 6,000 employees. His largest single command carried a $580 million budget and more than 1,800 employees.

He rose to the Senior Executive Service, one of the most selective leadership ranks in government, trained as a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Examiner, and was named C-Suite CEO of the Year. Twenty years in the United States Navy preceded all of it, concluding as a Chief Petty Officer, Aviation Warfare.

His signature is the turnaround.

Stabilizing organizations under pressure, and rebuilding the culture that keeps them strong long after he has moved on.

Read the full biography

Kelvin L. Parks is a Chattanooga, Tennessee native and a retired United States Navy Chief Petty Officer who rose to the highest levels of federal executive leadership. A Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Examiner and a C-Suite CEO of the Year, he is today an author, executive advisor, and keynote speaker.

He builds organizations that perform and leaders who endure. He has taken on some of the hardest turnaround assignments in federal and enterprise leadership, and he left every one of them stronger than he found it.

As a chief operating officer and chief executive officer across more than twenty years of executive leadership, he led eight organizations in seven states, carrying a combined operating budget of roughly $1.25 billion and more than 6,000 employees. His largest single command carried a $580 million budget and more than 1,800 employees. He rose to the Senior Executive Service, one of the most selective leadership ranks in government, trained as a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Examiner, and was named C-Suite CEO of the Year.

His signature is the turnaround. He stabilizes organizations under pressure and rebuilds the culture that keeps them strong long after he has moved on.

Today that experience is a firm and a framework. As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of C³PT Executive Solutions, he advises chief executives, boards, and senior teams using the operating system he built in the field: Communication, Collaboration, Culture, Perseverance, and Trust.

He is also an author. Transitioning Towers guides leaders through the highest-stakes career crossings. Black Ballots, Broken Promises tells the 164-year story of the democracy Black voters built and the pattern that keeps trying to erase it. Pinky-Winky, Will You Be My Friend?, a sing-along picture book born from bedtime with his daughter, teaches the youngest readers friendship, kindness, and asking first.

The throughline never changes: culture is led, leadership is earned, and the strongest leaders build the bridge for those who come behind.

WORK WITH KELVIN

Three situations. Three ways in.

Each one starts with a different person holding a different problem: a board with a seat it cannot fill, an officer with a retirement date, an organizer with a room that has to leave different than it arrived. Find the one that describes you.

Path One01

For a board or chief executive

Executive Consulting

The seat is empty, or it is filled and not working, and it is costing more than the salary. Boards and chief executives engage Kelvin through his firm, C³PT Executive Solutions, for interim and fractional chief executive and chief operating officer leadership, turnarounds, and the 30-Day Operational Diagnostic.

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Path Two02

For a leader competing for the next seat

Executive Coaching and Transition

You are not losing to better leaders. You are losing to better documents. A thirty-year record does not survive an applicant tracking system, and a hiring panel will not dig for what you did not put in front of them. One person, one target role, built from your verified record. Nothing is written from a questionnaire.

C³PT Qualifications Crosswalk
Executive Interview Playbook
CCAR Response Guide
Panel Intelligence Section

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Path Three03

For a conference, command, or board

Speaking

You need the room to leave different than it arrived. From congressional briefings to corporate boardrooms, Kelvin brings twenty years of United States Navy service and more than twenty years of federal and enterprise executive leadership to the platform.

Keynotes and general sessions
Executive and leadership retreats
University and command audiences
Panels and fireside conversations

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MEDIA AND PRESS

For journalists, producers, and editors.

Interview requests, speaking bookings, bulk orders, and press materials.

SHORT BIO

Kelvin L. Parks, M.A., is a federal and enterprise executive, keynote speaker, and author. A retired United States Navy Chief Petty Officer and OPM-certified member of the Senior Executive Service, he has led as a chief executive and chief operating officer across an eight-organization, $1.25 billion enterprise, earned recognition as C-Suite CEO of the Year, and trained as a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Examiner. He is the author of Transitioning Towers, Black Ballots, Broken Promises (C³PT Publishing, 2026), and the children’s picture book Pinky-Winky, Will You Be My Friend? Based in Greater Orlando, Florida.

INTERVIEWS AND SPEAKING

Available for interview and speaking requests

Television, radio, podcast, print, panel discussions, fireside chats, university keynotes, and corporate speaking engagements.

Topics: voting rights, Black political history, federal leadership, organizational culture, military transition, and America’s 250th anniversary.

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PRESS KIT

Request media materials

High-resolution author photograph, book cover art, long and short biographies, speaking topics, and talking points available on request.

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Kelvin L. Parks, M.A.