For decades, men have headed the leadership of many major organizations. Over the last few years, a subtle but major change has occurred, and dynamic women have been taking the helm and leading organizations to new heights.
Three organizations in Knoxville have three new leaders and they are changing the dynamics of collaboration and relationship building.
Chrystal Armstrong Brown is the CEO of United Way of Greater Knoxville after serving as interim CEO since late 2024. Brown oversees the organization that has distributed over fifty-four million dollars into the communities since 2020. She was selected after a nationwide search to head up an organization that serves over 100,000 people annually and also helps over 268,000 through funding over ninety-seven organizations. An innovative thinker, CEO Brown, helped feed over 49,000 during the government shutdown and snap benefit crisis by partnering with the University of Tennessee to collect unsold food from UT football games and distribute it to the communities of need.
CEO Natalie Stair was confirmed in October of 2025 as the leader of the YWCA Knoxville & the Tennessee Valley. Under her leadership, the organization is successfully undergoing renovations of the historic building downtown and is continuing development of programs for women that promote safety, and safe housing for domestic violence survivors and their children though programs like the Jenny Boyd Keys of Hope Program.
Dr. Laurie Sanderson Evans, newly appointed CEO of the Knoxville Area Urban League is the newest African American woman in Knoxville to take the reins and recently held the annual Urban League Gala where she shared her vision of the future of the organization, with a primary goal of learning the needs of the community as her year one goal along with developing new partnerships.
