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Natalie Madeira Cofield is a nationally recognized leader at the intersection of entrepreneurship, public policy, and economic opportunity.

Natalie Madeira Cofield is a nationally recognized economic development leader, entrepreneur, and former presidentially appointed small business policy expert. She serves as President and CEO of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), the leading national organization advancing economic opportunity for entrepreneurs and small businesses across the United States. Cofield is also a Fellow at Harvard University through the Bloomberg Center for Cities’ Good Services Lab and a columnist for Forbes, where she writes on entrepreneurship, economic development, and small business policy.

Previously, Cofield served as a presidentially appointed Assistant Administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), where she helped guide the deployment of more than $1.2 trillion in pandemic relief funding during the most significant economic crisis in modern history. In her role, she oversaw a $70 million national grant portfolio and led the largest expansion of the Women’s Business Center network in SBA history, strengthening support for entrepreneurs across the country.

Earlier in her career, Cofield founded Walker’s Legacy, a national platform dedicated to empowering women through entrepreneurship. Under her leadership, the organization grew into a network of more than 60,000 women across 20 cities and helped facilitate more than $75 million in investments, grants, and contracting opportunities for women-owned businesses. She also established the Walker’s Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit focused on financial literacy and economic security for women, and created a $25,000 scholarship for women entrepreneurs at Howard University, her alma mater.

Cofield also previously served as CEO of the Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce, where she led initiatives to expand economic opportunity and support small business growth across the Austin region.

Throughout her career, Cofield has helped launch several national initiatives supporting entrepreneurs and small business ecosystems, including serving as a co-founder of the $14 million Coalition to Back Black Businesses, which supported nearly 1,000 Black-owned businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, and founding the Capital Ready Coalition, a national alliance of Black women’s organizations focused on expanding access to capital and economic opportunity.

Her leadership and impact have been widely recognized. She was named one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Business and appeared as a cover story leader in the July/August 2020 issue for her work supporting entrepreneurs during the pandemic. She has also been recognized among the 100 Most Powerful Washingtonians by the Washington Business Journal and was named Advocate of the Year by the Minority Business Development Agency.

Cofield’s insights on entrepreneurship, economic development, and small business policy have been featured in major national outlets including The New York Times, Time, CNN, Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, Essence, EBONY, and Black Enterprise. She is a frequent speaker at leading institutions including Harvard University, Yale University, The Brookings Institution, The Aspen Institute, SXSW, Google, Meta, and Dell.

Cofield holds the Certificate of Management Excellence from Harvard Business School. She earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Public Administration from the Baruch College School of Public Affairs as a National Urban Fellow, and her bachelor’s degree from Howard University.

She currently serves on the corporate board of Harbor Bankshares Corporation and on the board of the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum.

Outside of her professional work, Cofield is an avid traveler who has visited more than 47 countries and enjoys playing Mahjong, a strategic game she appreciates for the way it brings people together through strategy, community, and conversation.

Natalie’s Work has graced the cover of publications across the nation.