American Banker magazine 2016 “Innovator of the Year”, and one of Time magazine’s “50 Leaders for the Future” named in 1994, John Hope Bryant is an American entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, and prominent thought leader on financial inclusion, economic empowerment and financial dignity.

Bryant is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Operation HOPE, Inc.; chairman and chief executive officer of Bryant Group Ventures, and co-founder of Global Dignity. His work has been recognized by the last five U.S. presidents, and he has served as an advisor to the last three sitting U.S. presidents. He is responsible for financial literacy becoming the policy of the U.S. federal government. In January 2016 Bryant became the only private American citizen to inspire the renaming of a building on the White House campus, when the U.S. Treasury Annex Building was renamed the Freedman’s Bank Building. The Freedman’s Bank legacy has become the narrative of the work of Operation HOPE—to help all people become fully integrated into our nation’s economy.

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, contributor to Huffington Post and Black Enterprise, and a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network. His Facebook Live “Silver Rights” Series has received millions of views, and serves as an engaging platform to foster essential discussion in the digital space around financial inclusion and social uplift. 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. Treasury.

Bryant is the author of bestsellers How the Poor Can Save Capitalism: Rebuilding the Path to the Middle Class (Barrett-Koehler), and LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass). He is one of the only bestselling authors on economics and business leadership in the world today who happens to also be African-American.

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