Venture Noire Appoints Emma Willis as Director of Heartland Region, to Board of Directors

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Venture Noire, a non-profit diversity-focused venture catalyst organization which provides programming and resources to entrepreneurs of color, today announced the appointment of Emma Willis as Director of Heartland Region and to its Board of Directors.

In this role, Willis will oversee fundraising efforts in the greater Arkansas region, and foster relationships with local community leaders. Willis will also assist with tech development for Spectra, a group of black-owned venture studios with the collective mission to advance innovation for a better and more equitable world.

"We are honored to have Emma join the team," said Keenan Beasley, President and Founder of Venture Noire. "She is a true diversity champion and seasoned entrepreneur who understands the challenges that diverse business owners face in the region. Emma's leadership will strengthen our desire to connect the Heartland's operational excellence with the creativity of the coastal regions. Venture Noire is a national, and eventually global, ecosystem, and having Emma lead this region is critical to accomplishing that mission."

Willis currently serves as a Senior Strategist for Mangan Holcomb Partners (MHP), a fully integrated communications firm based in Little Rock, Ark. Here she is responsible for providing strategic planning and counsel to ensure that clients in the government, financial and other sectors benefit from advancements in data-driven marketing to meet their growth objectives. Before joining MHP, Emma was with the Arkansas State Treasurer, starting in IT and eventually moving on to work with the Arkansas 529 GIFT College Investing Plan. For more than 10 years, she has dedicated her skills to the expansion of the state's 529 College Investing Plan where she grew $1 billion in assets. Originally from Little Rock, Emma holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Philander Smith College.

"I have been a champion of the vision and mission of Venture Noire since its inception," said Willis. "I see Venture Noire as the lighthouse of diverse innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the country and particularly in the Heartland region where there is so much talent and resources. It has been amazing to see what they have accomplished and I'm excited to be a part of the next phase of growth."

As her first project, Emma will oversee Venture Noire's panel discussion at the NWA Tech Summit with the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce on October 18-21.

For more information on Venture Noire, please visit www.venturenoire.org. 

ABOUT VENTURE NOIRE:

Venture Noire is a non-profit diversity, equity and inclusion partner. Venture Noire was formed to build confidence and profitability in underrepresented founders and entrepreneurs of color through curriculum, community and access to capital. Through its programming, Venture Noire is on a mission to accelerate communities of color by catalyzing the success of minority-owned businesses in the digital economy.

Venture Noire's ecosystem includes dozens of minority-owned start-ups that are on the cutting edge of technology, innovation and creativity.

SOURCE Venture Noire