Dr. Tequilla Brownie is the Chief Executive Officer of TNTP where she leads all aspects of the  organization’s visioning, strategy, operations, and business growth. With a mission focused on disrupting education inequities to provide students the viability and optionality that are engines  of economic mobility, TNTP is the preeminent national education non-profit in the country. Its client portfolio includes more than 500 current school systems across 43 states and territories having served more than 33M students.

A sought-after speaker for global conferences, a Pahara Fellow, and one the first names listed on Brightbeam's top 30 list of education influencers, Dr. Brownie is an innovative thought leader tapped for her insights on and beyond public education. Her own personal journey from a childhood spent in deep rural poverty to Yale to CEO of TNTP gives her a unique and timely perspective on the complexity of the public systems that undergird our economy. She is a leading voice on the need to revamp education institutions to focus on ensuring a path to prosperity for all students, including those most vulnerable.

Prior to becoming CEO, Dr. Brownie spent a decade at TNTP developing the business and leadership acumen required to run a large organization. Her success in leveraging a broad base of relationships to elevate the national profile of the organization while increasing both the number and value of philanthropic supporters helped secure TNTP’s position among the vanguard of education non-profits.

Before joining TNTP, Dr. Brownie led the design and execution of the district-wide effort to improve student outcomes in Memphis City Schools by increasing teacher effectiveness. In her role, she helped build community support for quality education and drove human capital reforms that led to significant policy changes. Dr. Brownie is also a licensed therapist and former school social worker,

She holds a BA in Psychology from Yale University, an MS in Social Work from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, and an Ed.D in Education Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Memphis.

Dr. Brownie frequently presents to key state legislatures and other leaders and education stakeholders at the national and local level to drive important policy changes related to educational equity.

She also lends her expertise as a board member for several local and national organizations including Stand for Children, ForwARd Arkansas, The MindTrust, and Memphis Seeding Success. In addition to serving as a Senior Fellow of FutureEd at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, Dr. Brownie is also a founding Leadership Committee member and former Board Member of Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC).

Back to Conference Home