Mrs. Candice Matthews Brackeen

Community Advocate of the Year

Candice Matthews Brackeen is a dynamic economic development organization founder/CEO and venture capital investor. Through her leadership at Lightship Foundation and Lightship Capital, Candice has guided hundreds of growth stage tech startups led by women, entrepreneurs of color, LBGTQ+ and disabled founders to more than one hundred fifty million dollars in funding.

Candice lends her strategic vision to Lightship’s founder centric programming and events including Lightship Accelerator, Lightship Bootcamp and Black Tech Week. Her commitment to advancement and inclusion has most recently been recognized by organizations such as the Cincinnati Bengals (2022 Inspire Change Changemaker Award) and Doritos and Pepsi Co. (2023 Doritos Change Maker).

Candice also serves on the Cincinnati Innovation District Advisory Council, the Endeavor Northwest Arkansas Board of Directors, and is a University of Cincinnati Kautz Uible Fellow.