Network X Americas
May 20-22, 2025
Irving Convention Center at Las ColinasDallas, Texas

Dr. Fallon Wilson
Vice President of Tech Policy at Multicultural Media Telecom Internet Council (MMTC)
Speaker

Profile

Through her work with nonprofits, academia, and government partnerships, Dr. Fallon S. Wilson strives to make visible the work of historic and modern-day Black crisis solvers. She invests her time into strengthening the tech ecosystem nationwide, especially as it relates both to Black women technologists and also underrepresented persons of color who may not have access to the ever-changing arena of technology. Her TEDx–Nashville presentation of Stop Ignoring Black Women and Hear of Our Tech Prophecies eloquently addresses the intersection of historical reality for Black women, spirituality, and technology. Her work aims to end the great technical divide that exists between the races, while also seeking to put an end to misconceptions about the abilities and skills of Black people that allow the perpetuation of said divide. Dr. Wilson acts with a strong lens of equity and tech inclusion within tech ecosystems for positive workforce outcomes.

As Co-Founder and Lead Principal Investigator for #BlackTechFutures Research Institute, Dr. Wilson engages in community action that creates change in her community and across the US. Currently. The Institute’s work builds a national network of city-based researchers and practitioners conducting research on sustainable local Black tech ecosystems, especially within underrepresented communities. Her research and projects include the design and implementation of Smart City models. Prior to launching the #BlackTechFutures Research Institute, as Research Director for Black Tech Mecca, Dr. Wilson developed the SMART Black Tech Ecosystem Assessment Framework. She built on this work to create with her team at #BlackTechFutures the Black Tech Ecosystem Index that accounts both for the landscape of Blacks in technology and the role of Black community builders over time. This has been and will continue to be applied to a series of reports about digital equity in predominantly Black communities in the South, starting with Birmingham, Houston, Memphis, and Nashville.

Dr. Wilson represents as the Vice President of Policy for the Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council, through which she launched a national campaign, “Black Churches 4 Broadband'' to support digital access in Black communities and later launched, Black Churches 4 Digital Equity. In this action, she brings the Internet and technological accessibility to students, workers, businesses, and families, which remains essential for success and inclusion in the ever-evolving automated world. Black Churches 4 Digital Equity launched an annual National Affordable Connectivity Enrollment Day with Black churches across the US.

She served as a Board Member of the State of Tennessee’s Future of Work Taskforce and previously Co-Chaired Nashville’s Smart City plan, Connected Nashville. As a former member of the Federal Communications Commission's Communication Equity and Diversity Council, Dr. Wilson chaired the Digital Inclusion and Anchor Institution Subgroup. Currently, Dr. Wilson serves on the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s Digital Opportunity Taskforce, as an Advisory Board member for the Digital Black Religion Project, a 2022 Mosaic Women in Policy PPI Fellow, is the 2024 MLK Speaker at the 2024 SIDGE Center & Public Interest Technology University Network, an Advisory Board Member of the Siegel Family Endowment Research Advisory Council, and Board Member of Digital Equity Research Center Advisory Board. Her organization, #BlackTechFutures Research Institute was selected to be a member of the World Economic Forum's Edison Alliance and received a 2022 Webby Anthem Award for their community event, #BlackTechPolicy Week. Given her commitment to building a national and global Black tech ecosystem, in October 2022, she was one of six women policymakers invited to attend PPI Congressional Delegation to Europe to discuss how countries are addressing digitalization.

As a tech activist, Dr. Wilson received the 2017 International Society for Technology Education’s Digital Equity Award, the 2018 Nashville Cable Power of Inclusion Award, the 2021 National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women’s Rising Star in Technology Award, the Hispanic Technology and Telecom Partnership 2021 Tech Innovadores, 2024 Balm in Gilead National Health Equity Award and remains a woman to watch amongst Black women technologists. Additionally, Dr. Wilson’s research on first-generation Black college students’ alternative tech pathways and Black tech ecosystems has garnered notable research grants from the Kapor Center, the Kauffman Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, among others. Dr. Wilson also received a 2023 and 2024 Webby Anthem Award for her Black Churches 4 Digital Equity National Affordable Connectivity Program Day of Enrollment and her Black Tech Ecosystem Reports. Additionally, as of 2023 she has founded and remains a member of Sistas 4 Digital Equity to support Black women's digital equity leaders.

In coordination with Congressional Black Caucus Tech 2025 Co-Chairs Rep. Barbara Lee and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Dr. Wilson presented her groundbreaking, bi-partisan research on closing the digital divide by building Black Tech Ecosystems in the US with funding from The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, The Digital Equity Act, and The CHIPS and Science Act. During the pandemic, Dr. Wilson launched Nashville's Digital Inclusion and Access Taskforce to address the effects of the pandemic and the digital divide on communities of color. In just seven months, she raised the necessary funds and launched a mixed-method city-wide assessment of digital inclusion related to internet connectivity in the city of Nashville and the county of Davidson.

Dr. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Spelman College and from the University of Chicago, two degrees, a Master of Arts in Political Science, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Social Service Administration. As a Public Interest Technologist, she discusses race, gender, faith, and civic tech issues through her writing and presentations. And because of her great work to support tech equity through a much-needed Black tech movement, she has cemented her role as a modern-day civil rights tech activist.

Agenda Sessions

  • Panel Discussion. Bridging the Digital Divide and expanding the digital inclusion for all

    3:50pm