Tawanna A. Black

Tawanna A. Black is an award-winning architect of racially inclusive and equitable talent, supply chain, philanthropy and marketing strategies that yield transformational results for businesses, their consumers, and the communities they work in.  

For more than 20 years, she has earned the trust of executives by mobilizing teams to create and execute strategies that meaningfully engage diverse workers, consumers, and business owners and drive growth and fiscal health. 

As Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Economic Inclusion (the Center) and Living Truth Enterprises, Incorporated, Ms. Black is on a mission to fuel racially inclusive and equitable regional economic growth in cities across the country. She has unlocked the formula for responsible corporate action to build shared economic growth while increasing consumer, shareholder, and investor trust and loyalty. Their proprietary, industry-leading employer assessment, index, and tools help businesses identify the impact of policies, investments and actions on employee productivity, business growth, and community impact. She leads stakeholder engagement, strategy design and change management consulting and coaching placing inclusion, anti-racism and belonging in the center in to drive measurable financial return and economic competitiveness for the cities and regions. Each year, Ms. Black and her team offer services to more than 70 businesses and government agencies and educate over 12,000 leaders.

Ms. Black is a nationally recognized thought-leader, elevating the economic imperative for corporate action to close racial wealth gaps and build shared prosperity. FSG, Minnesota Timberwolves, 3M,  and businesses across the country turned to her for strategies to respond to the economic impacts of COVID-19 and the uprisings following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. She offered unwavering guidance to disrupt systemic racism. Ms. Black developed innovative strategies to transform employment and job creation among African American men and has developed partnerships to invest in Black-owned businesses and scale entrepreneurship in growth sectors to meet the corporate demand for achieving ambitious supplier diversity goals anchored in regional inclusive economic growth and competitiveness. Today, executives at US Bank, Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, Xcel Energy, and CentraCare trust her team to develop and advise on their business strategies. 

Ms. Black is a skilled public-private partnership strategist and has helped companies, including Mutual of Omaha, ConAgra Foods, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska, and Cox Communications harness the power of government, community, and philanthropic partnerships to develop ESG solutions that reward communities, employees, and shareholders. Ms. Black’s urban planning and economic development experience, coupled with her keen understanding of the intersection between business goals and community needs, made her uniquely positioned to lead Destination Midtown, an unprecedented public-private partnership in Omaha, Nebraska. She led the implementation of a redevelopment master plan, guiding corporations to leverage their social, political, financial, and intellectual capital and infrastructure to revitalize a historic neighborhood at the precipice of decline or transformation. Ultimately, her leadership helped to secure more than $500 million in reinvestment in just three years to drive vibrancy, economic vitality, talent attraction and retention, and business growth. 

From coast to coast, across sectors and industries, Ms. Black is a trusted guide. In 2019, the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program appointed her as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow to help guide their expanding work with cities, nationally. In 2016, Living Cities named her one of the nation’s Top 25 Disruptive Leaders working to close racial gaps. Ms. Black has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, Forbes, and on MSNBC as a leading authority on the actions that businesses can and must take to close racial wealth gaps and fuel inclusive and equitable growth.  

Ms. Black is a graduate of Washburn University and holds a Bachelor of Public Administration degree. Her accomplishments and civic leadership have been recognized with many awards and commendations. Highlights include Women Presidents’ Organization- JP Morgan Chase- 100 Black Men of America- Women of Color Achievement Award (2022); Women Elevating Women- Entrepreneurial Women of Impact (2023); Twin Cities Business Magazine’s Person of the Year (2022); Twin Cities Business Magazine’s Nonprofit Community Impact Award (2021); Twin Cities Business Magazine’s 100 People to Know (2021, 2020, 2017); Washburn University Alumni Fellow (2018); City of Minneapolis History Maker (2021); Minneapolis- St. Paul Business Journal’s Women in Business Award Winner (2017); and Living Cities’ America’s Top 25 Disruptive Leaders Closing Racial Opportunity Gaps (2016). 

Ms. Black has served and led on over 40 boards. Today, she offers her wisdom to: McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility’s Advisory Council, Progressive’s Purpose Alliance, Low Income Investment Fund Board of Directors, Minnesota Tech Association Board of Directors; Washburn University Alumni Foundation Board of Trustees, U.S. Bank’s Access Advisors and the Minnesota Council of Churches Board of Directors. 

Ms. Black lives in the Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul metro with her husband Eric and children Traviata and Christian.