Damon Owens is the Executive Director of the Theology of the Body Institute (www.tobinstitute.org) whose mission is to educate and train men and women to understand, live, and promote the Theology of the Body. He is the founder of Joy-Filled Marriage NJ (www.joyfilledmarriagenj.org), and New Jersey Natural Family Planning Association (www.njnfp.org), non-profit organizations dedicated to building a marriage culture through training, seminars, and conferences. Damon and his wife Melanie have been teaching Natural Family Planning (NFP) since 1993, and served as NFP Program Coordinators for the Archdiocese of Newark.
In 2011, Damon served as Executive Director of The Children First Foundation, the official NY/NJ/CT sponsors of the Choose Life License Plates dedicated to promoting adoption by raising support and funds for women who choose life and adoption for their crisis pregnancies.
A Certified Speaker for the Theology of the Body Institute and National Trainer for Ascension Press since 2006, Damon keeps a full speaking schedule at national conferences, marriage seminars, colleges, high schools, seminaries, and parish groups on the good news of marriage, sexuality, Theology of the Body, Theology of the Family, adoption, and NFP. Damon currently lives outside Philadelphia with his wife Melanie and their eight children.
Damon has served as the NJ Director for the National Organization for Marriage (www.nationformarriage.org) promoting on the true meaning of marriage, its irreplaceable role in keeping a just society, and the public harms of its redefinition. In addition, he has served as National Spokesman for L.E.A.R.N. (Life, Education, and Resource Network) – the national network of independent African-American pro-life organizations. For more than 18 years, he has been calling attention to the disproportionate effect of anti-family and anti-life issues on the black community.
He was raised with his two sisters in NJ where, among his academic and athletic honors, he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University in 1988 and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1990. Following 13 years as manager with a major technology firm, he founded a technology startup in 2001 before moving full-time in support of marriage and the family.
Damon has published numerous articles, appeared on many radio and television programs [EWTN, Relevant Radio, ABC World News Tonight, CBS News 48 Hours, BET Evening News, National Public Radio], and has hosted and produced three 13-part series for EWTN. He is also an accomplished gospel singer honored with a solo during the 1995 NJ Papal Mass at Giants Stadium presided by Blessed Pope John Paul II.