Dr. Janelle Williams is a nationally recognized executive and strategist shaping how capital, ownership, and economic power converge to build wealth in American communities. As Co-Founder and CEO of Kindred Futures, she directs innovative strategies to transform how capital reaches communities that have been under-resourced by design, aligning cooperative enterprises, community centered policies, and mission-driven investors to close the racial wealth divide across the American South.

Her career spans central banking, national philanthropy, and federal policy. At the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, she served as Principal Adviser on the Community and Economic Development team, where she co-designed the Federal Reserve System’s Racism and the Economy series, a national platform that engaged leaders across all twelve Reserve Banks. She previously directed economic opportunity initiatives at the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site and served as a Congressional Fellow in the U.S. House of Representatives.

A sought-after voice in economic mobility and community investment, Dr. Williams serves on the boards of United Way of Greater Atlanta and Hope Credit Union and joins the Board of Trustees of the Tull Foundation in October 2026. She is an Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow, an alumna of Leadership Atlanta, and a member of the inaugural Power, Innovation, and Leadership Executive Education cohort at Harvard University. Dr. Williams holds a doctorate in international family and community studies from Clemson University, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Georgia, and bachelor’s degrees in psychology and sociology from Florida Memorial University.