Donna Murray-Brown

Donna Murray-Brown is the president and CEO of the Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA), a charitable organization dedicated to nonprofits and the communities they serve. She is the driving force behind MNA’s strategic direction and operations. MNA is a statewide membership organization that achieves its mission through advocacy, training, technology services, and civic engagement. She joined Candid’s board in 2021.

Prior to being named president and CEO in 2013, Murray-Brown served as director of the Metro Detroit Partnership Office and senior director of capacity building at MNA, where she led a successful strategic alliance program for arts and culture organizations in metro Detroit and led the merger negotiations of four organizations to create the Belle Isle Park Conservancy.

Additionally, Murray-Brown held a 20+ year banking career serving in various senior management roles, including the vice president and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) director for Charter One Bank, where she developed and executed CRA strategy.

Murray-Brown is the past chair for the National Council of Nonprofits and vice chair of the Board of Trustees for Detroit Public Television. She was appointed to Northern Michigan University’s Board of Trustees by Governor Gretchen Whitmer on December 18, 2019, for a term that will end on December 31, 2026.

Murray-Brown earned a master’s degree in Community Development from the University of Detroit Mercy, and a BS in Business Administration from Central State University. She also holds certifications in corporate community affairs from Boston College and strategic perspectives in nonprofit management from Harvard Business School.