Women To Watch Awards 2026 honors Diane Bell-McKoy

Diane Bell-McKoy is the CEO for Opportunity Connection, LLC., a consulting firm specializing in race, equity and inclusion analysis, group facilitation, coaching, and community leadership development. As of July 2022, Diane moves full time into her consulting firm, Opportunity Connection after having served over 16 years as the CEO of Associated Black Charities (ABC), a public foundation credited for its work as a catalyst for statewide advocacy, policy design and innovative transactional strategies as it relates to the impact of structural racism in depressing the economic outcomes for the African American community, in turn depressing the economic outcomes for the region.

Addressing the racial wealth disparities is essential for the future of America’s viability, especially given the racial demographic shift. Ms. Bell-McKoy has served on the National Policy Council for AARP; served in Washington, D.C. government as part of Mayor Marion Barry’s public policy office, Changing Outcomes, an early partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, and The District of Columbia Government, along with other roles in D.C. Government and Baltimore City Government, under Mayor Kurt Schmoke’s leadership. She led the country’s most successful Empowerment Zone including a return on investment of $15 million dollars as a result of loans to businesses.

Ms. Bell-McKoy is a graduate of the University of Maryland, both her bachelor and master’s degrees and post degree leadership certifications including Harvard’s Kennedy’s School of

Government. Bell-McKoy launched her public service career in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. region. She joined Mayor Marion Barry’s public policy office as a team member for “Changing the Odds,” an early partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and The District of Columbia Government. She served in a number of other roles in D.C. government before joining the Baltimore City Government under the leadership of Mayor Kurt Schmoke. In 1994 she led the launch of the country’s most successful Empowerment Zone, a federal $100 million ten-year investment to develop sustained economic and community development opportunities for residents and businesses in a targeted group of communities in Baltimore City. Under her leadership the program achieved a return on investment of $15 million dollars. It was in this role that she achieved greater clarity about the role of structural racism versus the limitation of “success for a few” as a result of a sustained dollar investment.

In addition to leading Opportunity Connection, Bell-McKoy is active in the broader community locally and nationally through extensive board engagement and leadership. She was one of the initial co-leaders for the Baltimore Aspen Workgroup for Dismantling Structural Racism, a former Trustee for the Baltimore Community Foundation and the former chair for Humanim. Ms. Bell-McKoy has served on the National Policy Council for AARP. She currently serves on the boards of the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), Baltimore’s Promise, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Maryland Hospital Association (MHA).

Finally, she is most proud of her role as wife, stepmother and grandmother.