ERIC H. KEARNEY

Eric H. Kearney is the President/CEO of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce.

He has had a distinguished career in law, business, and politics. As a state senator, Eric served as Ohio Senate Minority Leader. He championed a number of causes including adoption, children's health, small business development, and pension reform. Annually, he led a 107-mile walk from Cincinnati to Columbus to highlight an important, children's health issue. In 2014, he walked the entire State of Ohio, starting at Lake Erie and ending in Cincinnati at the Ohio River. He passed a number of impactful bills. For instance, he sponsored bills to: make February Black History Month in Ohio, create an adoption loan program, fight childhood obesity, establish Adoption Day in Ohio, reform Ohio's pension system, and create Ohio's Poet Laureate. On a national level, Eric was a member of President Barack Obama's national finance committee when he ran for U.S. Senate and President.

CHRISTIE KUHNS

Christie Kuhns is the President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio where the mission is to help African Americans and others in underserved communities achieve their highest true social parity, economic self- reliance, power, and civil rights. Prior to joining ULGSO, she served as Vice President of Operations and Community Relations and Chief of Staff to the Chief Operating Officer at UC Health. 

Christie is a deeply engaged and trusted advisor as well as a dynamic executive leader. Her multifaceted skillset and prodigious aptitude for creative collaboration with community, government and business stakeholders advances economic, racial, and healthcare equity, resulting in “win-win” situations for all parties. Both a nonprofit and corporate industry leader, she has been named one of the "100 Rising Stars in the Nation" by The Business Journals, one of “20 Professional Women to Watch” by the Cincinnati Enquirer, and was recently honored with the Cincinnati NAACP President’s award, which is the highest honor given at the local level.

DARRIN M. REDUS, SR

Chief Executive Officer, Minority Business Accelerator

Darrin M. Redus Sr., a national thought leader and practitioner in inclusion-based entrepreneurship and economic development, is Vice President of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber heading up its nationally recognized Minority Business Accelerator. The Accelerator supports the development of large scale African American & Hispanic firms through a series of partnerships with major corporations and broader growth initiatives to disproportionately impact job and wealth creation in underserved communities.

Prior to joining the Cincinnati Chamber, Darrin served as founder, President & CEO of MainStreet Inclusion Advisors, LLC. – a national advisory and entrepreneurial development organization specializing in connecting and preparing underserved populations for high growth entrepreneurship and the emerging innovation economy.

WILLIE HILL

Executive Director - The Greater Cincinnati Microenterprise Initiative (GCMI)

GCMI is a non-profit agency designed to create self-sufficiency through Entrepreneurial Education and Small Business Development programming and services to low income clients and communities. GCMI has been in existence since 1998 and I have been the Executive Director since 2005. GCMI has played a pivotal role in maintaining support for low income individuals seeking their dreams of small business ownership. GCMI has continued to support disadvantage communities and individuals and true to its mission. GCMI provides Entrepreneurial Education Classes, Small Business Development classes, Business Coaching and Technical Assistance, and Access to Capital with their MIrcolending programs. Under his Direction, GCMI has provided Entrepreneurial Education and Business Development Training to over 1400 Low income clients; help create over 375 businesses, provided over 2.1 Million in financing, and created over 550 jobs and counting. GCMI provides portfolio management and lending support services for several loan funds including the City of Cincinnati’s Microcity Loan Fund and the L Ross Love GrowthBridge Loan Fund. 

CANDICE MATTHEWS BRACKEEN

Candice Matthews Brackeen is a General Partner at Lightship Capital, the Cincinnati-based firm investing in the most remarkable innovators and ecosystems across the nation with a focus on CPG, E-Commerce, Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, and Healthtech.

Candice also serves as Executive Director and Founder of Lightship Foundation, an impact-driven organization enabling growth within the minority innovation economy. Her dedication to moving inclusion in innovation forward is also reflected in her advisory roles across numerous organizations including the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium for NASA, where she leads diversity of thought as the United States of America harnesses and accelerates technology toward a sustainable return of humans to the Moon’s surface.

Candice also serves on the Cincinnati Innovation District Advisory Council, the Endeavor Northwest Arkansas Board of Directors, and is a University of Cincinnati Kautz Uible Fellow.

ALLEN WOODS

MORTAR - Co-founder and CEO

Allen Woods is a devoted husband, father, and entrepreneur – in that order.

A brand strategist & business consultant who has worked with brands around the globe, Allen is a lifelong Midwesterner who’s never allowed the size of his city to place a limit on the size of his dreams. Woods cofounded MORTAR in 2014 with the mission of designing a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem for marginalized business owners in Cincinnati, Ohio. What was initially created to benefit small businesses in a singular neighborhood – soon became an impressive local success story that has become the blueprint for a regional expansion that will have a physical MORTAR presence in 15 cities across the United States by 2024.

Woods has participated in fellowship programs presented by Echoing Green and New Profit and been recognized as a Cincinnati Business Courier 40 under 40 Business Leader, John F. Barrett Entrepreneur Vision Award recipient, and in 2020 & 2021, Cincinnati Magazine named Allen one of the Cincinnati 300, an annual list of the city’s top 300 business leaders described as ”the most influential, the most powerful, or most impactful forces who’ve shaped the region”.