Ruby Bright

Ruby recently retired from the Women’s Foundation for Greater Memphis as its President and CEO after over 22 years of leadership. Under her tenure, the Women’s Foundation invested over $35 million in supporting 560 programs involving more than 182 local non-profits. Bright guided the organization’s effort across the state in response to the COVID pandemic to distribute $12 million in funds to support local organizations.

She serves on the board of ThinkTennessee, as the Honorary Co-Chair of the Ida B. Wells Memorial Committee in Memphis, and as an honorary co-chair for the Racial and Equity task force with Tennessee Nonprofit Network. Bright’s awards include the 2021 Memphis Power Player and the 2022 Memphis Business Journal Power 100 consecutively for over a decade. She is a past board chair of the Women’s Funding Network.

Ruby has received the Ms. Foundation 2022 Woman of Vision Award and additional honors from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 2023, she received the Shelby County Tennessee Alumnae Chapter Community Pioneer Economic Development Award and the inaugural Happy Jones Advocacy and Visionary Leadership Award from the YWCA of Greater Memphis.