Nicole is the founder of The Townsend Collaborative, a philanthropy network and advising practice empowering African American philanthropists to effect systemic change. Nicole has more than two decades of leadership experience in nonprofits and philanthropy. She has raised more than $50 million for nonprofit organizations, designed philanthropic strategy for $110 million in grants, and managed grantmaking operations for an additional $900 million in grants to nonprofit organizations. She is a certified philanthropic advisor and has led strategic initiatives for family foundations, donors, and private foundations.

Nicole served as the Chief Impact Officer at the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. She was a member of the C-suite and co-managed the $2.3B family foundation, working directly with the family and foundation chair. Nicole started and led the Impact and Operations team to oversee grantmaking strategy, effectiveness, operations, equity, and impact across the foundation’s grantmaking portfolios in education, gender equity, criminal justice, economic mobility, democracy and voting rights, and Jewish community. She also led a grantmaking portfolio that improved college access and outcomes for first-generation college students and developed high-impact leaders of color.

Nicole was the founder and president of the nation’s largest network of faith-motivated public education equity advocates. The nonprofit mobilized nearly 50,000 Black and Latino/a constituents who successfully pushed for policy change at the local, state, and national level. Nicole also served as an executive coach for national nonprofit CEOs with The Management Center. This built on her work as a member of Teach For America’s C-suite, where she led several teams in the effort to eliminate education inequality nationwide. She began her career as a public school teacher in Compton, California.

Nicole received her B.A. from The University of Michigan and her Ph.D. in Education Policy from the University of California, Los Angeles. Nicole has authored two books and several articles about the intersection of education, racial equity, advocacy, and justice. She has served on several non-profit and corporate boards and is deeply committed to empowering communities of color to foster racial and economic justice, liberation, and systemic change.