John Hope Bryant is an American entrepreneur, thought leader and philanthropic leader, referred to as the Conscience of Capitalism by the CEOs of Delta Air Lines, Walmart, First Republic Bank and countless others. Bryant is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Operation HOPE, Inc. the largest not-for-profit and best-in-class provider of financial literacy, financial inclusion and economic empowerment tools and services in the United States for youth and adults. He is also chairman and chief executive officer of John Hope Bryant Holdings, Bryant Group Ventures and The Promise Homes Company (Promise Homes), the largest for-profit minority-controlled owner of institutional-quality, single-family residential rental homes in the U.S.

Bryant’s founded organizations have provided more than $3.5 billion in capital for the underserved over the past 30 years, and by the end of 2022, Bryant’s 1 Million New Black Businesses Initiative (1MBB), launched in October 2020, has already created more than 150,000 new black businesses and counting, or an amount equal to 5% of all black businesses in America.

Both Operation HOPE and Promise Homes have experienced explosive growth under Bryant’s leadership, 553% from 2014-2018, and 303% from 2017-2018 to present, respectively. By 2020, Operation HOPE became the largest financial literacy organization in America and America’s financial coach, with more than 200 HOPE Inside offices in forty six states and Promise Homes, a start up in the summer of 2017, became the largest minority controlled single family home rental company in the nation by summer of 2021.

December, 2021, Bryant successfully recapitalized into a new Promise Homes Co. joint venture for more than $120 million, paying off all debts and investors. Simultaneously, in December 2021, Bryant successfully closed a $200M credit facility to grow the new housing joint venture, marking one of the largest capital raises by a Black owned company in more than a decade (according to Black Enterprise).

John Hope Bryant has been recognized as an influential leader by many including the 100 Black Men of America “Chairman’s Award for Economic Empowerment,” was listed by The Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “2022 Power 100”, named #2 among 100 inspirational leaders on the “Yahoo Finance Empower Role Model list 2022,” Georgia Trend’s “100 Most Influential Georgians” in 2022 and 2023, Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Most Admired CEOs of 2018,” Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “The Power 100: Most Influential Atlantans in 2020,” American Banker magazine’s 2016 “Innovator of the Year,” and one of Time magazine’s “50 Leaders for the Future” in 1994. Bryant received an honorable mention in Inc. magazine’s “The World’s 10 Top CEOs” article that spotlights global servant leaders as the visionaries behind some of the most successful organizations. Additionally, Operation HOPE and Bryant are a permanent part of the Smithsonian African-American Museum in DC. On April 15, 2019, the City of Atlanta City Council and the City of Atlanta (John’s home city) named April 15th John Hope Bryant Day.

Five former U.S. presidents have recognized his work, and he has served as an advisor to three sitting U.S. presidents from both political parties. In 2008, John Hope Bryant inspired then President George W. Bush to make financial literacy the official policy of the U.S. federal government. Bryant also worked $

with the Bush Administration to create a new federal policy framework of emergency financial disaster preparedness, response and recovery work, following 9/11, resulting in a first ever partnership with the Department of Homeland Security/FEMA and HOPE. He has received hundreds of awards and citations for his work, including Oprah Winfrey’s Use Your Life Award, and the John Sherman Award for Excellence in Financial Education from the U.S. Department of Treasury.

During the Obama Administration, Bryant continued his pioneering work of financial literacy and inclusion, and in 2016, Bryant inspired then Treasury Secretary Jack lew to rename the former U.S. Treasury Annex Building into the Freedman’s Bank Building, in honor of the Freedman’s Bank of 1865, becoming the only U.S. citizen ever to cause the renaming of a building on the White House campus. The Biden Administration continues the Bryant inspired Freedman’s Bank Forum to this date.

In April 2017, a historical marker, also inspired by Bryant, working alongside friend and HOPE board member Bryan Jordan, CEO of First Horizon Bank in TN, to honor the final flight of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Memphis on April 3, 1968, was installed at the Memphis International Airport 49 years to the day that Eastern Flight 381 arrived from Atlanta.

 

During the onset of the pandemic of 2020, Bryant was called upon by the U.S. Treasury officials to help design, develop and launch the Payroll Protection Program (otherwise known as the PPP program), which helped countless American small businesses and entrepreneurs to survive the 2020-2022 pandemic period.

A member of the founding class of The Forum of Young Global Leaders, and founding member of Clinton Global Initiative, Bryant is a LinkedIn Influencer and past member of the World Economic Forum and OECD Expert Networks. He is one of three co-founders of Global Dignity and co-founder of Just Brothers.

In May 2019, Bryant received an invitation to be a regular guest co-host for CNBC SquawkBox. BUILDING The Good Life with John Hope Bryant is a national podcast series produced by the iHeart Radio and iHeart Podcast networks, that seeks to scale Bryant’s success in others. 

His social media “Straight Talk with John Hope Bryant” live series of videos, which actively promotes the Silver Rights Movement, has received 100+ million views, and serves as an engaging platform to foster essential discussion in the digital age around financial inclusion and social uplift. This series led directly to a Facebook sponsored episodic streaming series entitled ‘Delivering The Memo’, inspired by Bryant’s bestselling book, THE MEMO. Today, Bryant has more than 2.5 million followers on all social media platforms.

Bryant is the author of Up from Nothing: The Untold Story of How We (All) Succeed (Publication Date Oct 6, 2020); bestsellers; The Memo: Five Rules for Your Economic Liberation (Berrett-Koehler, September 2017), How the Poor Can Save Capitalism: Rebuilding the Path to the Middle Class (Berrett-Koehler, 2014), and LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass, 2009). He is one of the only bestselling authors on economics and business leadership in the world today who happens to also be Black.

 
In addition, several prominent CEOs, companies, organizations, and non-profits have all sought Bryant’s counsel.  He is currently a board member or advisor to the following organizations: KKR, Nextdoor, CMCT, First Republic Bank, 25Madison, NO LABELS, 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Atlanta Black Chamber, Atlanta Business League, Case Impact Network, Clark Atlanta University Board of Trustees, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Truist Bank Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Committee, and WorkingNation Advisory Board Member, among others.
 

John Hope Bryant was born on February 6, 1966, in Los Angeles, CA. and is married to Chaitra Dalton Bryant and they reside in Atlanta, GA.

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