Tony Brown, 2022 Wall of Honor

Originally coming to HOLA in 1993, Tony Brown has been Executive Director and an active Board Member since 2006. During that time, Tony has sustainably grown the organization’s annual operating budget from $2.3 million to more than $5 million annually, allowing the organization to reach 74% more underserved children with programs that give them opportunities to realize their full potential. He received the 2012 LA Business Journal Leadership Excellence Award, Bank of America's Local Hero award and was named to Town & Country's Top 50 Philanthropists list in 2015. In 2017, he was awarded the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Innovation in the state of California. The following year, the Durfee Foundation awarded Tony with the prestigious 2018 Durfee Sabbatical, which facilitated the establishment of a permanent, revolving professional development fund for HOLA staff.

He served on the Advisory Board for Scripps College's Laspa Center for Leadership as well as a President Emeritus of the Dean’s Board of Advisors for the University of Tennessee, and currently serves on the Loyola Marymount University MBA Advisory Board. Tony has been named as a Distinguished Alumni by both Loyola Marymount University and the University of Tennessee. Tony holds a BA from Loyola Marymount University, an MS from the University of Tennessee, and was a Graduate Fellow of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Center for Social Innovation Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders.

Tony is on the Leadership Council for the Promise Zone and was appointed to an Advisory Committee of the California Senate Rules Committee.