Meet the Team

Tawanna Black is a nationally recognized strategist, institution builder, and systems-change leader with more than 25 years of experience helping organizations and communities navigate complexity, accelerate impact, and build more prosperous futures.

As Founder and CEO of Living Truth Enterprises, Tawanna advises foundations, corporations, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, faith institutions, and community collaboratives seeking to strengthen leadership, align strategy, foster meaningful partnerships, and create sustainable change. Her work spans strategic planning, organizational development, leadership transitions, governance, facilitation, racial and economic equity, community engagement, and systems transformation.

Tawanna is perhaps best known as the Founder and former CEO of the Center for Economic Inclusion, the nation’s first organization dedicated exclusively to building inclusive regional economies. Under her leadership, the organization became a nationally recognized force for economic systems change, equipping employers, governments, philanthropic institutions, and community leaders with the tools, data, relationships, and accountability structures needed to advance shared prosperity and close racial income and wealth gaps.

Throughout her career, Tawanna has launched and scaled organizations, mobilized millions of dollars in philanthropic and economic development investments, advised executive leaders and governing boards, and designed initiatives that have influenced policy, practice, and investment decisions across sectors. Her leadership has helped strengthen workforce systems, entrepreneurial ecosystems, place-based development strategies, philanthropic collaboratives, and community wealth-building efforts in cities and regions throughout the country.

In addition to her leadership at Living Truth Enterprises, Tawanna served as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution, where she contributed research, writing, and thought leadership on inclusive economic growth, place-based development, philanthropy, racial equity, and regional competitiveness.

A trusted advisor and facilitator, Tawanna has worked with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies and national philanthropies to local governments, faith communities, and grassroots organizations. She is known for helping leaders move beyond surface-level solutions to address root causes, strengthen relationships, and build the conditions necessary for lasting transformation.

Her leadership and contributions have been recognized through numerous honors, including Twin Cities Business Person of the Year, the Women of Color Achievement Award, Living Cities’ Top 25 Disruptive Leaders Closing Racial Opportunity Gaps, and multiple regional and national leadership distinctions.

Tawanna currently serves in several governance and advisory leadership roles, including President of the Minnesota Council of Churches Board of Directors, while continuing to support leaders and institutions committed to creating thriving communities where all people can flourish.

What distinguishes Tawanna’s work is her ability to bridge strategy and humanity. She has spent her career helping leaders solve complex challenges while strengthening the relationships, trust, courage, and alignment required to sustain change. Whether guiding a board retreat, facilitating a regional strategy process, designing a leadership experience, or advising a CEO through transition, she helps leaders move from intention to impact with clarity, integrity, and purpose.