RAHMAN BRANCH has built an illustrious career by helping executives, educational leaders and heads of government agencies unlock their transformative power to effect organizational and community change. He’s served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, executive director, leadership coach, and expert on equity totaling 25 years, which gives him a unique set of skills and perspective. Rahman’s commitment to serving others and his ability to advance the development of inclusive and socially responsible leaders and business practices has impacted countless organizations. Corporate innovations aligned to stakeholder needs and the current racial climate is a direct result of his coaching and consultancy.

Rahman entered the field of education wanting to impact the system that has historically underserved students of color. During his tenure as an educator in Washington, D.C., he gained prominence as a turnaround specialist for low performing schools. By developing culturally competent teachers, dismantling policies that negatively impacted students of color and focusing on inclusive culture, school violence decreased by 60%, school suspension was reduced by 30% and test scores increased 20% in less than three years.

Rahman’s continued school gains and leadership performance earned national attention, which led to a groundbreaking appointment by District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser as the nation’s first Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office on African American Affairs. In this role, he leveraged his skills and experience to improve policies, programs and resources around education, economic opportunities, and housing for the purpose of a more equitable city. He was routinely called upon to analyze current and proposed legislation that impacted African American residents including marijuana regulation reform, affordable housing and mandatory African American History in schools. In addition, Rahman chaired the Committee for Equity and Access in all Neighborhoods as part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative and worked with the Urban Institute to publish The State of Black DC, a baseline data report on the state of DC’s largest demographic.

Following a successful tenure in the Mayor’s office, Rahman founded Inside Urban to help leaders grow beyond basic DEI efforts to build anti-racist, inclusive organizations. Since its inception, his team has contributed to programs at the University of Louisville and Newberry College to recruit, retain and graduate black males and also partnered with Credo and the Campaign for Black Male Achievement on various initiatives around creating equitable company culture. In addition, Rahman continues coaching business executives and community leaders in partnership with universities and charter school networks nationwide. He has created tactical staff development and ongoing training modules for universities, athletic teams, companies, consulting firms and nonprofits that want to better serve and engage marginalized groups.