Damon Owens, Fellow of the Principium Institute, is executive director of joytob (joyTOB.org) a marriage and family ministry centered on St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. Following four-years as the first executive director of the Theology of the Body Institute, he served as Chairman of the 2016 International Theology of the Body Congress. He previously founded Joy-Filled Marriage New Jersey, and New Jersey Natural Family Planning Association, non-profit organizations dedicated to building a marriage culture through training, seminars, and conferences. Damon and his wife Melanie taught Natural Family Planning (NFP) for 14 years, and served as NFP Coordinators for the Archdiocese of Newark (NJ).

An international speaker and evangelist since 1994, Damon is a certified lecturer for the Theology of the Body Institute, National Trainer for Ascension Press, and presenter at the 2015 World Meeting of Families, Damon keeps a full international speaking schedule at conferences, marriage seminars, universities, high schools, seminaries, and parishes 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.

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 for women who choose life and adoption for their crisis pregnancies.

Damon has served as the NJ Director for the National Organization for Marriage 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 over twenty 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 14 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, appears frequently on many radio and television programs (EWTN, Catholic Answers, Relevant Radio, The Catholic Channel, ABC World News Tonight, CBS News 48 Hours, BET Evening News, National Public Radio), and has hosted and produced three television series. He is also an accomplished gospel singer honored with a solo during the 1995 NJ Papal Mass at Giants Stadium presided by Pope St. John Paul II.