Erin Horne McKinney

Passionate about social impact, equitable entrepreneurship, and inclusive innovation, Erin Horne McKinney is the CEO of WomenVenture and founder of the global membership organization, Black Female Founders (#BFF). Erin is an Womanist, Afrofuturist, seasoned nonprofit executive, public servant, and serial entrepreneur and intrapreneur with more than two decades of entrepreneurship and tech policy, venture capital, economic and business development, inclusion/diversity/equity/access (IDEA) and marketing communications experience. Erin previously served as the inaugural Managing Partner of Inclusion for JumpStart Inc. and as Washington D.C.’s inaugural Senior Advisor on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Executive Office of the Mayor. Erin held executive leadership roles with the National Association of Multicultural Digital Entrepreneurs (NAMDE), the National Diversity Council, and the Maynard Institute. Her entrepreneurship and technology policy work includes research positions with TechNet, the National Telecommunication and Information Administration within the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. 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 advisory the board for Collider’s Inclusion Open program and as a Board Director for Greater Twin Cities United Way. Erin is currently pursuing her Ph.D. within the Technology, Policy and Society program at Howard University, where she also completed her BA in Journalism & Telecommunications Management and MA in Mass Communications and Media Studies.