Innovators of Color
2021

Tulaine Montgomery

Co-CEO

New Profit

Tulaine Montgomery is an entrepreneur, educator, writer and organizer. She has played leadership roles in the launch and expansion of social enterprises across the U.S., the Caribbean, East Africa, Indonesia and South Africa.

Tulaine currently serves as CEO of New Profit, a venture philanthropy organization that backs visionary leaders who are scaling innovations and transforming our nation’s most important and often inequitable systems. During her time at New Profit, Tulaine has led initiatives focused on strengthening education-to-employment pathways for underserved youth, driving resources and support to entrepreneurs who have been directly impacted by the American legal system, and building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization and philanthropic sector.

Tulaine has also served as the lead architect of New Profit’s Inclusive Impact strategy and Proximate Capital fund, which seeks to bridge the resource gap faced by Black, Latinx, Indigenous, rural and other overlooked social entrepreneurs.

Prior to New Profit, Tulaine was Founder and President of New Resource Strategies (NRS), a consulting firm that enabled mission-driven organizations to address major operational, fiscal, and strategic challenges. Among Tulaine’s clients were the United Nations, Harvard University, Boston University, and the National Urban League, among others. Prior to launching NRS, Tulaine served as Vice President of Community Impact with United Way Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley providing strategic vision and leadership for all community and policy-related activities in the areas of affordable housing, sustainable employment, asset building, financial education and basic needs. She also served as the National Director of Graduate and Youth Opportunities and the Manager of the National Schools Initiative (NSI) at YouthBuild USA, where she oversaw a portfolio of initiatives designed to help low-income youth successfully enter college and the 21st century workforce.

Outside of New Profit, Tulaine is also a trusted advisor to nonprofit organizations and socially responsible companies, providing strategic and financial support to many of our nation’s most breakthrough and promising social innovations. She currently serves as the Board Chair for GirlTrek, the largest public health nonprofit for African-American women and girls in the nation. Tulaine’s other board positions include Beyond 12, and the College for Social Innovation.

Tulaine’s writing has been featured in TIME, Stanford Social Innovation Review, The Root, Worth Media, and more. She is featured in “Portraits of Purpose: A Tribute to Leadership,” a visual chronicle and historic narrative of community leaders. In 2020, Tulaine co-authored a research report on equity in philanthropy in partnership with Next Street, Transforming the Social Sector: The Opportunity and Need for Action. She received the PayPal Maggie Lena Walker Award in 2023, an Innovator of Color award at the 2021 ASU+GSV Summit, and was recognized as the 2021 Social innovator of the Year by the University of New Hampshire.

Tulaine is the Host and Executive Producer of "Say More with Tulaine Montgomery,” a podcast that explores what it would take to build a world that works for everyone.

Tulaine has a master’s in public policy from Tufts University and a bachelor’s degree from Smith College. With a lifelong passion for the arts, Tulaine is an experienced cellist and writer; she has written and produced five original plays.