Latresa McLawhorn Ryan

Latresa McLawhorn Ryan is Executive Director of the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI), an intermediary organization leveraging ideas, people and capital to close the racial wealth gap in Atlanta. Prior to joining AWBI, Latresa was a vice president within the Foundations and Endowments Specialty Practice at SunTrust Bank. She has more than 15 years of experience as a strategic advisor helping entrepreneurs, nonprofit and foundation clients maximize the impact of their assets to support and align with their missions and personal goals, including designing and implementing social impact investment strategies. Latresa began her career as an attorney at Arent Fox, PLLC, in Washington, DC, before opening her own boutique law firm specializing in estate planning, asset protection and nonprofit law with a concentration on venture capital, private equity firm, and small business owners. Prior to joining SunTrust in 2014, Latresa was the Director of the Office of Partnerships and Global Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Development at Operation HOPE where she focused on cultivating strategic partnerships and led the fundraising and development activities across the organization. She earned her B.S. in Computer Science from Spelman College and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law.