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Aligned with some major growth plans, New York-based ExecOnline closed a $45 million Series D funding round. Co-founded in 2012 by Stephen Bailey, Mark Ozer, Barry Goldberg, and Julia Alexander, ExecOnline provides executive education programs and training solutions certified by educational institutions. The company partners with business schools around the world to bring democratized access to leadership development at large companies. “We feel like we have a differentiated and compelling story having pioneered this space,” The company’s CEO Bailey told AfroTech in an interview. “We hopefully want to create awareness that there is a new way to develop leaders that can create much more equity outcomes at organizations.” This latest funding round was led by OMERS Growth Equity with participation from previous investors including Kaplan, Osage Ventures, NewSpring and ABS Capital Partners. ExecOnline plans to use the Series D to further develop its online platform, expand its...
Urban Skin Rx® has added some Black girl magic to its board! According to PR Newswire , Melissa Butler, and Deisha Barnett have been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Barnett serves as the Chief Brand & Communications Officer and Head of Diversity & Inclusion at the Metro Atlanta Chamber. In her previous roles, she used her expertise in multicultural consumer-focused initiatives as she led marketing and communications strategies for Procter & Gamble and Walmart. Butler is the CEO and founder of The Lip Bar and a groundbreaking entrepreneur dedicated to the disruption of beauty industry norms, and prioritizing vegan beauty products, and beauty industry diversity. The women will join Cheryl Moss, Rachel Roff, and Steven Skoler. Moss is the director of Friend Skoler & Co., an investment firm that recently made an investment to support the rapid growth of the company dedicated to leading brands in the smaller end of the middle market. Roff is the founder and CEO of Urban...
When Horace Williams left his executive position at Oracle, he wanted to create something that could have a huge impact on his community. The New York-native began developing his own platform focused on civic engagement in 2013 and Empowrd was born. Empowrd is based in Atlanta where the startup scene is taking off for Black entrepreneurs. Williams said the city has become communal space for Black founders and many leaders are leaning on each other to foster success. Empowrd is an app for individuals and organizations to stay informed and to motivate political action. Users can access news, contact elected officials and find ways to get engaged within their communities. Organizations use the app to conduct surveys on their constituents, build partnerships with influencers and political leaders, and access data analytics. Photo: Empowrd AfroTech had a chance to chat with Williams about Empowrd and the problem he’s trying to solve using tech. This interview has been lightly edited for...