Thurgood Marshall College Fund Taps Racquel Oden As First Woman To Lead Its Board

Though Oden is the first woman to lead the organization's board, in 1987, TMCF was founded by a woman, Dr. N. Joyce Payne.

On Jan. 4, Racquel Oden, currently serving as the head of Wealth and Personal Banking for the U.S., was named the chair of the board of trustees for the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF). This historic appointment, reported Forbes, marks Oden as the first woman to assume this role in the organization’s 37-year history.

The TMCF framed this significant decision as a strategic response to the challenges posed by the Supreme Court’s rollback of affirmative action in 2023, positioning Oden’s appointment as a powerful symbol of the organization’s commitment to advancing equity in the face of setbacks to diversity and inclusion efforts. The TMCF stated, “Oden’s appointment as Board Chair serves as a powerful symbol of TMCF’s dedication to promoting equity, particularly in the face of challenges to diversity and inclusion efforts following recent Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action.”

Oden said that the Thurgood Marshall College Fund serves the majority of students who attend HBCUs, telling Forbes, “TMCF represents 80% of all students attending HBCUs. As a board member for the past 16 years, I’ve supported TMCF as it promotes access, equity, and inclusion by nurturing the growth of talent from HBCUs through scholarships and leadership development. I am excited to build on that legacy of service as the first woman to step into the role.”

Though Oden is the first woman to serve the organization in this particular capacity, in 1987 the organization was founded by a woman, Dr. N. Joyce Payne, with the goal of financially supporting Black students who wanted to pursue higher education.

David Wilson, the president of Morgan State University, one of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s member universities, saluted Dr. Payne, telling Forbes, “I applaud the vision of Dr. Joyce Payne in birthing the TMCF. She was and still is dynamic. And she understood that public HBCUs, which were being short-changed by states for funding and were not represented by another organization that represented private HBCUs, needed a voice.”

Wilson was also pleased that Oden graduated from Hampton University, an HBCU. Wilson told Forbes, “Having someone of Oden’s stature in the Board Chair role is crucial as the nation seems to be going through a period of confusion about why it’s perceived to be the best in the world.”

Wilson added, “America is a nation of diversity born by the different groups that have made it the envy of the world. It is quite fitting that one of the national associations representing the voice of HBCUs would appoint a person like Oden because the very purpose of the institutions — that she will be a major advocate for — was to push the country to live up to the ideals in the Constitution, and those ideals are at the core — diversity, equity and inclusion [DEI].”

Robert Palmer, a professor at Howard University, as well as an expert on HBCUs, believes that Oden’s appointment could portend a bigger impact on HBCUs in general in the area of diversity and inclusion, saying, “At a time when equity and diversity are being challenged nationwide, we must remind ourselves that these issues play out at HBCUs in a very different fashion. In society, when we think about equity and diversity, many of us think about these issues within the context of race, but at HBCUs, issues around equity and diversity may come in the form of gender.”

Palmer expounded, “At some HBCUs, we have seen disparate treatment for women presidents, causing some to raise concerns about sexism and Black women in executive leadership positions.”