ADC Board Spotlight: Henry Brown, Chairman

Avondale Development Corporation Board of Trustees Chairman Henry Brown has played a leading role on some of Greater Cincinnati’s most important and visible community efforts. He has served three terms on the ADC board, where his experience and passion continue to make a real impact every day. And to him, the revitalization of Avondale is personal: he lives in the neighborhood with his with, Elizabeth.

Mr. Brown retired from Procter & Gamble in 1999 as the Director of Worldwide Engineering and spent several years as a consultant to small and mid-size construction and construction-related companies. By then, he had already amassed an impressive resume of community leadership. Mr. Brown served as volunteer project manager and advisor to the NURFC Board for design and construction of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Museum, which opened on the Cincinnati riverfront August 2004. As board chair of Greater Cincinnati YMCA Board of Directors, he championed the design and construction of Carl H. Lindner branch YMCA. The Linder “Y” is a full-service family branch built in Cincinnati’s inner city in 2005.

Uptown Innovation Groundbreaking, April 2019

In 2014, Mr. Brown and partners Howard Elliott and Bill Witten founded WEB Ventures, a management consulting firm focused on strategic planning for diversity and economic inclusion. WEB is helping to ensure inclusion in all aspects of the development and operating process of the Uptown Innovation Corridor. Their work includes construction contracts, employment, developers, and investors. The WEB Ventures team played a central role in recruiting the principals of Queen City Hills, LLC to the Corridor. This will be largest African American-led real estate development project in the Cincinnati region's history.

Mr. Brown served as a member of the Greater Cincinnati YMCA Board of Directors, where he was a three-term board chair. He is also a past member of the YMCA of the USA Board of Trustees, a member of the Wesley Education Center volunteer board and past director of both the Seven Hills Neighborhood House and Lenox Savings Bank (now Foundations Bank) where he was twice board chair.

Mr. Brown has also maintained generous and continuous involvement and support for his alma mater, the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He served two term on the MS&T board of Trustees. Mr. Brown also served as chairman of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on African American Recruitment and Retention, on the Diversity Subcommittee of the Alumni Association Board and Chairman of the Order of the Golden Shillelagh (philanthropic outreach) board.  He has been elected to the MS&T Civil Engineering Academy for outstanding professional and civic contributions and received the Robert V. Wolf Alumni Service Award in recognition of service to the University and the city of Cincinnati. And he is a founder of the Epsilon Psi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha on the MS&T campus.