Briana Joyner Joins the Women’s Foundation as Executive Vice President of People & Culture

Briana Joyner joined the staff as Executive Vice President of People & Culture on August 5.

“We are thrilled to welcome Briana Joyner to this new role at the Women’s Foundation, said Gloria Perez, President & CEO. “Briana is a passionate leader of people and impact with a diverse business background and extensive experience. Her energy and insights about complex organizations are assets to align our organizational practices with a culture of wellness, inclusion, and belonging.”

In this role, Joyner will focus on the employee experience across the organization, overseeing Human Resources, driving DEIA strategies, supporting Executive Team members, internal leaders, and all staff by leading an internal people and culture strategy consistent with WFM’s mission, vision, and values.

Briana joins the Women’s Foundation after serving as the interim Executive Director of the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, a beloved African American Institution in the heart of Rondo, and the Minnesota Historical Society, where she was the Chief Human Resources & Inclusion Officer.

Briana’s vast experience includes organizational development, behavioral science, evaluation, operations, strategy development and implementation, learning and development, human resources, culture transformation, diversity, equity, access, and inclusion. Briana has worked to develop broad ownership of equity work, a sense of belonging, and deep intercultural competence across the communities she’s led. She continues to champion, inspire, mentor, and empower the next generation of changemakers and beyond.

Briana served as the Board President for Hallie Q. Brown, Board of Director for Solid Ground and she is a Board of Trustee for the OD Global Network where she teaches other OD and D&I practitioners on JEDI related topics and Chairs the Membership & Volunteer Engagement Committee. Most recently, Briana was named co-chair for Governor Walz’s Committee to commemorate the 250th (semi-quincentennial) anniversary of the American Revolution, she was named Best-in-Class Executives as a 2023 Notable BIPOC Executive by the Twin Cities Business Magazine and in 2022 she was named as a Women in Business Honoree by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal for her outstanding work.

Before joining Hallie Q. Brown and MNHS, Briana worked in various positions in the field of people and culture development, human resources and providing strategic leadership in roles at Target Corporation and public and privately held companies throughout the Twin Cities. She has two B.A.s in Marketing and International Business from St. Cloud State University and an M.B.A. in business administration with a concentration in organizational development, human resources management, and change leadership from the University of St. Thomas.

Reflecting on her new role, Joyner said: “As the Executive Vice President of People and Culture for the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, I am looking forward to infusing hope and courage in all we do by empowering every leader to see themselves just as they are in the work of the foundation. We intentionally choose to celebrate difference and create environments of wellness. I’m eager to bring an inclusive, human-centered approach to our collective work, where a sense of belonging becomes an ongoing, natural behavioral interaction among our teams, partners, donors, board, and community partners.”