Author Profile

Samantha Tweedy is an accomplished executive who has spent two decades working to increase economic mobility and opportunity. 

Samantha is the first-ever Chief Executive Officer of the Black Economic Alliance (BEA) Foundation, the nation’s leading organization harnessing the collective expertise and influence of business leaders to expand work, wages, and wealth across the Black community. Previously, she served as the inaugural President of the BEA Foundation — leading the organization’s efforts to produce cutting-edge research, practical solutions, and programming to create better access to good-paying jobs, livable wages, and wealth creation for Black people.

Before joining BEA, Samantha was the first Chief Partnerships and Impact Officer at the Robin Hood Foundation, one of the nation’s largest anti-poverty organizations. She developed and directed the Power Fund to invest in nonprofit leaders of color and the High-Quality Schools Fund to support innovative school models for New York City’s most under-resourced communities. 

Samantha brings a unique mix of on-the-ground and executive experience to her leadership. She served as the first Chief Advancement Officer at Uncommon Schools, a network of public charter schools serving historically disadvantaged students of color who go on to graduate from four-year colleges at higher rates than students from the wealthiest American households. She also founded and directed an elementary school that won the National Blue Ribbon School Award for its success in closing racial and socioeconomic opportunity gaps.

After graduating from Yale Law School and Duke University, Samantha began her career as an attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where she worked on landmark school equity litigation to close the public school spending gaps that disproportionately impact students of color and practiced commercial litigation.

Samantha is a Pahara Fellow and serves as a board and advisory member for a number of organizations dedicated to social and economic justice, including the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and The Highland Project.