Dr. Kerry Mitchell Brown Named Senior VP For Race Forward

Photos: KMB

Chicago, IL – July 18, 2022 – Distinguished Racial Equity Strategist and Cultural Architect Dr. Kerry Mitchell Brown is the newly appointed Senior Vice President of Finance and Operations for Race Forward, a leading racial justice nonprofit organization. Dr. Brown will remain the Principal of KMB, a group formed to help businesses with sustainable organizational transformation.

In her new role at Race Forward, Dr. Brown will collaborate with the finance, technology and human resources teams to offer strategies for operational excellence. She recently served as a strategic advisor to the senior team and demonstrated exceptional leadership in the areas of research and programs. Dr. Mitchell Brown also directed Race Forward’s strategic programmatic assessment process.

“We are pleased to have Kerry take on this critical role for our organization,” stated Glenn Harris, President of Race Forward and Publisher of Colorlines. “Since joining Race Forward, Kerry has brought much needed strategic, transformative perspective to the organization, as we manage unprecedented growth within the organization and unprecedented backlash against the racial justice movement.”

Dr. Brown has extensive experience in issues of racial equity, organizational development, and capacity building and has supported numerous organizations that center and prioritize confronting racism, specifically anti-Black racism, in analysis and action. As a scholar-practitioner, she puts management theory, organizational theory, and social movement theory into practice to construct a multidimensional framework for racial equity and organizational transformation.

Dr. Kerry Mitchell Brown

“I approach my work by drawing on the complicated connections and complex architecture between local and national politics, racial inequalities, and the myriad of ways in which these realities manifest in organizations while accurately assessing organizational needs, key issues, and factors that influence organizations’ responsiveness to social issues affecting organizational and leadership performance. I look forward to the opportunity this role provides to bring this approach organization-wide to Race Forward,” states Dr. Brown.

Dr. Mitchell Brown holds a PhD degree in organizations and management, an MBA degree and an BSBA degree in finance, and is a Gestalt OSD Certified Practitioner. Prior to kmb, she held domestic and international finance, organizational development and operations roles with Prudential Financial, Walt Disney Company and Dartmouth College. She possesses over 30 years of progressive, social justice, non-profit, higher education and Fortune 50 organizational experience. Dr. Mitchell Brown is credited for her extraordinary organizational transformation of the second largest labor union.