Tony Brown

Chief Executive Officer

Originally working at HOLA from 1993 to 1995, Tony became a teacher, Athletics Director and had a career in the sports business before returning and becoming the Executive Director in 2006. Since then, Tony has led the sustainable growth of the organization’s annual operating budget from $2.3 million to more than $8.7 million annually, reaching 74% more underserved young people with programs and supports that give them opportunities to realize their full potential. He has numerous awards to include in 2012 receiving the LA Business Journal Leadership Excellence Award, Bank of America's Local Hero award and he was named to Town & Country's Top 50 Philanthropists list in 2015. In 2017, he was recognized by the James Irvine Foundation for Leadership Innovation.

Tony holds a BA from Loyola Marymount University, an MS from the University of Tennessee, and was a Stanford University Graduate Fellow in the Business School's Social Innovation Program for Non-Profit Leaders.  Since then, he served on an Advisory Board for Scripps College and was also President of the Dean’s Board of Advisors at the University of Tennessee. For his exemplary service, Tony has been named as a Distinguished Alumni by both Loyola Marymount University and the University of Tennessee. Tony served on the Leadership Council for L.A.'s Promise Zone and is an  appointed Commissioner of the California Senate Rules Committee as one of twelve Commissioners working at the state level to provide information and advice to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Secretary for Education, and the State Board of Education regarding state and federal policy and funding issues affecting before and after school programs. Tony is dedicated to promoting legislative and administrative policies, both state and federal, that enhance the quality and accessibility of after-school programs in California as a CA3 Advocacy Steering Committee member and he is also the Advisory Board Chair for LA's very first after school intermediary, Expanded Learning Alliance (Expand LA). Tony is also currently serving on the Advisory Committee for the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and was named a 2022 Durfee Foundation Stanton Fellow.