NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Marsha Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Martha O’Bryan Center (MOBC) announces she will step down in June 2026, concluding 25 years of visionary leadership of the nonprofit. The MOBC Board of Directors will launch a national search with a goal of naming her successor within the year.
A passionate advocate for families and children in Nashville, Edwards has spent decades working to reshape how the city addresses poverty. She has championed high-quality education, innovative pathways out of poverty, and collaboration among civic, philanthropic, and community leaders to help ensure everyone benefits from our city’s economy.
“Serving families and children through the Martha O’Bryan Center has been a journey of love and honor. I joined the organization to provide my business acumen and energy to its important mission, but I was the one who was received the gift, learning and growing in my faith and as a person,” said Edwards.
During her tenure, MOBC has grown from a $1.9 million operating budget with 32 full-time employees to a $37 million operating budget with 255 full-time employees. Edwards has helped expand every program under the MOBC umbrella, building on its legacy as essential infrastructure for delivering emergency services while creating an internal culture of community listening and a “do what needs to be done” attitude.
“Listening is the first act of innovation, and it truly guides our work. The people of the Martha O’Bryan Center are second-to-none in the nonprofit sector,” Edwards said. “Our staff sees the strengths of those we serve and goes to solution for them. No half-efforts, no checked boxes; we work every day to help people move forward. That is love in action.”
Having guided the organization through economic downturns, the 2010 flood, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic, Edwards remains hopeful for the future and confident in the organization’s resilience.
“This work has been the second love of my life; the first being my husband, Eric, and our four children. I love this work, our deeply engaged Board of Directors, our generous donors, and our talented staff,” Edwards said. “Together, we will continue to meet the moment and provide the stability, support, and opportunity our community deserves.”
Highlights of Marsha Edwards’ Legacy
- Charter School Leadership: After serving as Board Chair for the first KIPP school in Nashville, Edwards worked to open East End Preparatory School, a public K-8 charter in East Nashville that now leads the city as a high-poverty, high-achievement school. She then opened the Explore! Community School, the first charter school built in public housing in Tennessee. The diverse project-based learning school now operates an 80,000 sq. ft. building next to the Martha O’Bryan Center designed to meet the needs of surrounding families. Together, the two schools serve 1,400 students across Davidson County.
- High School and Post-Secondary Success: In 2010, Edwards worked with MOBC leaders to open its first high school-based Academic Student Union, The Top Floor, at Stratford STEM Magnet High School. Designed to increase graduation rates and post-secondary success at one of Nashville’s lowest-performing high schools, the program more than doubled the school’s college going rate and led to similar programs at Maplewood High School and Hunters Lane High School. To date, the ASUs have assisted more than 2,300 students in enrolling in post-secondary education, and students have received more than $150 million in grants and scholarships.
- Community Listening and Revitalization: Under Edwards’ leadership, MOBC partnered on Metro Development and Housing Agency’s Envision Cayce development project to remake public housing. MOBC helped ensure the new community included opportunity and equity for original residents and newcomers. Investing in the MOBC campus in Cayce Place, Edwards led the rehabilitation of 40,000 sq. ft. of office space and addition of 30,000 sq. ft. dedicated to providing more families with upward social and economic momentum through well-being programs, childcare, and workforce development.
- An Innovative Family Success Network: In 2020, after co-developing a new vision for family supports, MOBC opened its Family Success Network (FSN), a dynamic “third space” in which community members come together for fellowship and recreation while accessing childcare, employment, education, and family supports needed to gain stability and self-sufficiency. MOBC received the Center for Non-Profit Management’s Team Building Award for its person-centered design process, and its FSN has been recognized for its innovation by the Kresge Foundation and Aspen Institute.
- Statewide Systems Change: In 2021, Edwards led MOBC to organize and launch the Tennessee Alliance for Economic Mobility (TAEM), a public-private collaborative to reimagine Tennessee’s safety net. Including 30 partners across 16 Middle Tennessee counties, TAEM secured TDHS funding and now operates Our ChanceTN, one of the nation’s largest pilots on solving for the benefits cliff which blocks economic advancement for low-income working families.
