Historic Step: Mayor Nichols Appoints Alaina C. Beverly as Greenwood Trust Executive Director

10/24/2025

Beverly to Lead Tulsa's First Trust Centered on Reparative Efforts from 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Today, Mayor Nichols, in his role as Trustee of the Greenwood Trust, announced the appointment of Alaina C. Beverly as the Executive Director of the Greenwood Trust, which is a cornerstone of Tulsa's Road to Repair initiative to advance economic growth and repair the generational harm of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The Greenwood Trust will be a permanent, community-centered private charitable trust that fosters investment in housing, cultural preservation, education and economic growth in the Historic Greenwood District and North Tulsa - centering on survivors and descendants while serving as a national model for reparative economic development through private investment.

"Alaina Beverly brings unmatched national leadership, policy expertise, and a lifelong commitment to racial and economic equity," Mayor Monroe Nichols said. "Under her leadership, the Greenwood Trust will build the foundation, partnerships, and capacity to make transformative, lasting investments that honor Greenwood's legacy."

With Beverly's appointment, the Greenwood Trust will begin its next phase of development focused on community engagement, fundraising, and program design to bring its mission of remembrance, renewal, and investment to fruition.

"I am deeply honored to serve as the inaugural Executive Director of the Greenwood Trust," Beverly said. "This work is both a calling and a responsibility - to remember, rebuild, and reimagine investment in a way that honors the legacy of Greenwood, ensures that future generations inherit opportunity, and lifts up the narrative of this great community."

Since June when the Greenwood Trust was announced, the City of Tulsa has been working to build a framework for the trust, including the establishment of leadership to lead the work, as well as continued fundraising efforts to secure $105 million in assets with most of the funding secured, or committed, by June 1, 2026, the 105th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Assets could include property transferred to the Trust or philanthropic funding.

A native of Michigan and graduate of Stanford University and the University of Michigan Law School, Beverly has over two decades of experience advancing equity through government, philanthropy, academia, and advocacy. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President of the Black Economic Alliance Foundation, where she directed place-based investments to advance Black economic opportunity. Her previous roles include serving in the White House Office of Urban Affairs during the Obama Administration as the National Deputy Director for African-American Outreach for the Obama for America Campaign, and as Assistant Vice President for Urban Affairs at the University of Chicago, and as counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Advancement Project.

More information on the Greenwood Trust and Mayor Nichols' Road to Repair is available online.