Nancy Flake Johnson

With a passion and reputation for leadership in community and economic development, Nancy Flake Johnson returned to Atlanta in 2008 to become president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. Well-known across the country for her commitment and innovative approaches to education, workforce development, entrepreneurship, and advancing the Black community through economic empowerment and urban development, Nancy quickly built partnerships in the public and private sectors throughout the metropolitan Atlanta region to drive the Urban League of Greater Atlanta’s impact on youth, adults and families through its initiatives and programs.

 Nancy has developed and steered her committed and qualified team to create impactful programs that meet people where they are and guide them toward financial and economic empowerment. Program platforms benefit job seekers across the spectrum—unemployed and underemployed youth and young adults, professionals, former inmates re-entering society after incarceration, first-time homebuyers, entrepreneurs, homeless, or underemployed adults. In partnership with businesses and other nonprofit organizations, she has increased the agency’s impact on housing, education, career focused workforce development, business development, and job opportunities in underrepresented communities.

She serves on several boards and committees, including the 2018 Transition Team for City of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Chair of the Jobs and Opportunity Policy Sub-Committee, City of Atlanta WorkSource Atlanta Board and Chair of the Finance Committee, Atlanta Speech School Board of Advisors, Co-Chair of the National Urban League Jobs Task Force, 2017 Metro Atlanta Chamber Committee for a Better Atlanta, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Coalition, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Atlanta Transit Expansion Advisory Coalition, and the Georgia Education Equity Coalition.

Her advocacy for civil, education and economic rights has earned her numerous awards and honors, including the 2018 Women of Excellence Award by the Atlanta Tribune Magazine, the National Urban League’s Woman of Empowerment 2017, the Atlanta Business League selected her as one of the Most Influential Women of Atlanta for five consecutive years between 2012-2017, the Operation PUSH Community Empowerment Award and the Howard University School of Business Distinguished Alumni Award, and she was honored as a "Woman of Excellence" by the Atlanta Daily World Newspaper. Nancy is a member of Leadership Atlanta’s class of 2010.

Nancy earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Accounting from Howard University in Washington, D.C., and received a Master of Science in Taxation from DePaul University in Chicago. Before joining the leadership of the Urban League in Detroit in 2006, Nancy operated the Howard University Small Business Development Center in the university’s School of Business for 10 years where she inaugurated innovative programs that elevated attention to diverse entrepreneurs and business leaders around the nation and served as the executive producer of the “Small Business Magazine” television series. Nancy operated her own accounting and consulting firm in her hometown of Detroit and began her career with Arthur Andersen & Co. and Coopers and Lybrand, an international certified public accounting firm.