Latest news with #TomekaHartWigginton
Business Journals
01-07-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Memphis Executive Connections with Tomeka Hart Wigginton, president and CEO, United Way of the Mid-South
expand Tomeka Hart Wigginton joined United Way of the Mid-South in December 2024 as the first female president and CEO. She brings with her a wealth of experience and a passion for the Mid-South and mid-Southerners who are working hard everyday to build a better life for themselves and a bright future for their children. What brought you to United Way? United Way has been threaded through my entire career and I see my appointment by the board of directors as the culmination of years of work. I grew up right here in Memphis and have always had a love for this city and the region. I built my career as an educator, an elected Memphis Shelby County School Board member, a nonprofit CEO and as a senior leader for two national funders. I've seen the impact that nonprofits can have on communities when they are properly funded; have partnerships to build capacity; and work closely with local and state governments. United Way is uniquely positioned to drive systems-level change through this type of deep collaboration. Everything I've done in my career has led me to the work at United Way. I'm right where I belong and excited about the work ahead. What do you see as United Way's role in the community? United Way of the Mid-South has served the community for over 100 years as a funder; however our impact is much greater than that. United Way is a capacity-builder — supporting nonprofits to do more with the resources available through partnerships and collaborations. Making the most of every dollar and every opportunity to collaborate is critical for nonprofits to succeed. Our strategic focus is rooted in equity, informed by data and built to align cross-sector partnerships. We are not just improving existing programs, but we are redesigning how United Way works to create population level change along with area nonprofits, philanthropists, business leaders and the public sector. This region is challenged by poverty and low-income wages that hold back, not just families, but the entire community. United Way is uniquely positioned to lead this work. What are your main goals for your first full fiscal year at United Way? I've been at United Way for about six months and that time has been spent listening, learning and defining how we move forward in a bolder and more impactful way. United Way is currently delivering top quality services in our Free Tax Prep program that fills and files over 10,000 tax returns for low- and moderate-income families. Our Driving The Dream program is redefining how we connect families living in poverty with the services they need. In the next three years, you will see United Way transform from a traditional pass-through funder and service coordinator into a backbone philanthropic organization that drives durable social and economic mobility for Mid-Southerners. This is not the United Way of the past. We are uniquely positioned — as a funder, service provider, and coalition-builder — to address the root causes of poverty, not just the symptoms. We are building data driven systemic impact that ensures that every mid-Southerner has the opportunity to thrive. How will you lead as the first female CEO at United Way of the Mid-South? I actively and purposefully work through connections. I think women tend to work collaboratively because they intuitively understand collective impact and the power in our voices. That's one of the reasons that we have relaunched Women United. This is a dynamic time for United Way of the Mid-South and we want to include the women business executives, community leaders and entrepreneurs who want to make a difference in the community. We want to hear from women who know that the Mid-South can do better and be better for women, children, and families. People are working hard just to get by, and United Way is building a group of change-makers. I want to work alongside Women United — to learn from other leaders and to share how Women United can lead the charge. As the first female leader at United Way, I invite other women to join me. Let's make a thriving community together.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tomeka Hart Wigginton, USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree, melds public service, activism
Tomeka Hart Wigginton is one of USA TODAY's Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year's honorees at Tomeka Hart Wigginton was chairman of the Memphis City Schools and CEO of the Memphis chapter of the Urban League when she had a breakfast meeting that proved to be a pivotal moment in her career. In 2009 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had just donated $90 million to the Memphis City Schools as part of an ambitious plan to make MCS a national model of great teaching for all children. The next year Bill and Melinda Gates visited Memphis to celebrate the grant and see the work taking place. Wigginton joined a small group that was meeting at a Memphis hotel with the Gateses and others from the foundation. She recalls telling Bill Gates that she would one day work for his foundation. She said Gates' response floored her: "I've heard. What's taking you so long?" Indeed, Tomeka Hart Wigginton has been taking bold steps and rising in the ranks of non-profits for the last two decades. She has been a teacher, lawyer, education advocate, consultant and, yes, she joined the Gates Foundation in 2016. In November, she took on her most high-profile role: President and CEO of the United Way of the Mid-South. Now Wigginton, 53, adds a new title: USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree. In a career defined by public service and community activism, Wigginton says she has been grounded by her working-class upbringing in Memphis. "I have a deep desire to impact the vulnerable communities of Memphis," Wigginton said. Indeed, she realizes that in her years growing up in the Goodwill Village development of North Memphis and, later, Frayser, her family would have been in the target audience for United Way services. More: United Way of the Mid-South appoints Tomeka Hart Wigginton as new president and CEO Wigginton, a graduate of Trezevant High School who received her bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and law degree from the University of Memphis, faced a recent challenge in 2023 when she returned to assist the Memphis Shelby County Schools board in a new role: the board enlisted her as a consultant/facilitator. The board was stymied in its efforts to pick a new superintendent, having to suspend the search. It called on Wigginton, a former school board chair, to help them get back on track. Through board retreats and other meetings led by Wigginton, board members eventually got to a place where they picked a new superintendent. She says career stops and consultant work have helped prepare her to become the chief of the local United Way, a job Wigginton said she became "obsessed" with the prospects of landing once longtime head Dr. Kenneth Robinson announced his retirement in June 2024. "Everything I've ever done -- from teaching, law, CEO of a non-profit and philanthropy -- rolls right into United Way," Wigginton said. "So when I am talking to our clients, I can talk to them about my own upbringing. And how I know what it's like to be poor. That's not judgmental. When I am talking to agency CEOs, I've been a United Way agency CEO, and I know how we are making your life difficult and I want to make your life easier and when we are talking to philanthropists, I've been there, too." She added: "Philanthropy is about the power to impact communities. For a community to grow you need strong community organizations, a strong public sector and aligned philanthropy." What follows is a Q&A with Wigginton: My mom and dad. I was the youngest of five children and, when I got to college, I realized the sacrifices they made for me to go to college, something they had never done. I realized as a kid that I never wanted to let my parents down. When I was a teacher, I had the a-ha moment of realizing that I had to listen more to students. I started talking to them about their families and the environments where they lived. It helped me become a better teacher. I try to be for others what folks have been for me. I try to be intentional about supporting others. It is something I seek out in a genuine way. It is not about me. Passing the bar for the first time. No one in my family had been a lawyer, and I worked really hard in (the University of Memphis) law school. The other was going to work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2016. Gates had helped fund Memphis City Schools' Teacher Effectiveness Program (through a $90 million grant) and I was school board chairman and I met Bill and Melinda Gates. When I first applied to law school in 1997 at Georgia State, I didn't get in. It was a low point and I was shocked. But what I learned from the experience was it was not the right time and place. In 1999 it hit me that I should go home (to Memphis). Every no is not a statement about me and something I did wrong. Coming home to the University of Memphis School of Law was the fight thing. I left at 18 for college (at University of Tennessee-Knoxville) and came back at 28 and it propelled me into what I am doing now. As confident as I am about myself and what I can do, I still struggle with overcoming my thinking that I am not ready for whatever challenge is before me. It's a constant thing (and) I have to remind myself of what I am capable of. The hardest and most rewarding thing I ever did was running for and serving as a (Memphis City Schools) board member for nine years. I would do it all over again, but I am not! My definition of courage is doing what you know needs to be done regardless of consequences. Here's an example from my time on the school board: We had to let go of 300 custodians because we were facing a $60 million budget deficit (at the Memphis City Schools). And we did a study on where we would cut. That was tough, and I was the board chair. But I had to be responsible for this enterprise -- and make a courageous decision. The other decision was the merger of the (city and county) school systems in 2013. And it was the courage to do what was right even though I knew I was going to make a lot of people mad. That you really are smart. You can do hard things and just know that you have no idea who you are going to be, but in 20 years you will be great. Mark Russell is executive editor of The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: United Way's Tomeka Hart Wigginton is USA TODAY Women of Year honoree
