Bio

Passionate about financial inclusion, social impact, inclusive innovation, and equitable entrepreneurship, Erin Horne McKinney serves as the inaugural National Executive Director of the Howard University & PNC National Center for Entrepreneurship. The vision for the Center is to create a nationally recognized center for entrepreneurship education, research, resources, and advocacy for Black business owners across the country. The National Center serves as a leader of best practices for Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) to enhance innovation and entrepreneurship instruction, provide real-world learning opportunities for students, and support faculty engagement in interdisciplinary innovation and entrepreneurship research. The National Center also serves as a significant resource for Black communities for innovation, entrepreneurship, technology commercialization, and business growth. The National Center is located on Howard University’s campus and includes four regional Centers of Excellence: 1) Howard University (Washington, D.C.), 2) Morgan State University (Baltimore), 3) Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta), and 4) Texas Southern University (Houston). Erin is the Founder of the global community, Black Female Founders (acquired). She is also a seasoned executive, investor, Womanist, Afrofuturist, activist, advocate, communication scientist, and serial entrepreneur and intrapreneur with more than two decades of entrepreneurship and tech policy, venture capital, economic and business development, Inclusion/Diversity/Equity/Allyship (IDEA), and marketing communications experience. Erin is a member of Pipeline Angels and serves as an advisor and mentor to startups, incubators, and accelerator programs. She is a founding member of the Black Innovation Alliance (BIA) and serves on the advisory board for Collider's Inclusion Open program (funded by the Kauffman Foundation), and as a Board Director for the Greater Twin Cities United Way, Tubman, and BIA. She previously served as the founding President & CEO of the African American Community Development Corporation (AACDC) of Minnesota and the Chair & Managing Partner of Minnesota Impact Partners (MIP), a real estate development firm. She is a proud graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C.