Dr. Fallon Wilson, Vice President, Policy
Dr. Fallon Wilson, Vice President, Policy, leads MMTC’s work on three focus areas in the tech, media, and telecommunications (TMT) sectors. The sectors include: Technology, Data Privacy, Artificial Intelligence, and Civil Rights in the Digital Age; Infrastructure, Broadband Connectivity, and Digital Inclusion; and Multicultural Media Ownership and Content Diversity.
Prior to joining MMTC, Dr. Fallon Wilson co-founded #BlackTechFutures Research Institute and is the former Research Director of Black Tech Mecca. At Black Tech Mecca, Dr. Wilson created the Smart Black Tech Ecosystem Assessment to support local city leaders with building a thriving black tech ecosystem. Recently, she was awarded a Kauffman Foundation’s 2020 Open Knowledge grant to launch #BlackTechFutures Research Institute. #BlackTechFutures Research Institute builds a national network of city-based researchers and practitioners conducting research on sustainable local black tech ecosystems.
She is a member of the Federal Communications Commissions’ Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. Dr. Wilson is a 2019 TEDx Speaker (e.g. Stop Ignoring Black Women and Hear of Our Tech Prophecies). She is a Board Member of the State of Tennessee’s Future of Work Taskforce and Co-Chairs Nashville’s smart city plan, Connected Nashville. Given her tech activism, she is a 2017 recipient of the ISTE Digital Equity Award. Dr. Wilson’s research on first generation black college students’ alternative tech pathways and black tech ecosystems has garnered notable research grants from Kapor Center for Social Impact & Kauffman Foundation. During the pandemic, Dr. Wilson launched Nashville’s Digital Inclusion and Access Taskforce to address the effects of the pandemic and the digital divide on communities of color. In seven months, she raised and launched a mixed method city assessment of digital inclusion in Nashville. Because of her great work to support tech equity, Venture Beat as the modern-day Fannie Lou Hamer for tech equity. Dr. Wilson chairs the Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s HBCU Success Board. Dr. Wilson has a BA from Spelman College and MA/PhD from the University of Chicago. As a public interest technologist, she discusses race, gender, faith, and civic tech issues. Follow her on Twitter @SistahWilson.