Rachel Davis, CEO | Executive Director
After receiving her Bachelor of Economics degree from Spelman College, Rachel Davis embarked on her career at a law firm in New York City, but it didn’t take long for Rachel to realize the law wasn’t her path. Armed with both a vast network and an exceptional education from her time at Spelman, she left NYC to pursue her MBA with a concentration in finance from Clark Atlanta University. After graduation, she joined the financial services industry with Prudential. Rachel’s passion for helping her clients accumulate, manage, and preserve wealth propelled her to move into microenterprise.
In 1996, Rachel took on a role as the project management consultant for the Dow Jones-Spelman College Entrepreneurial Center. There, she was instrumental in maintaining the success of the program’s entrepreneurial training division, developing course curriculum, and managing sponsored programming. After a successful launch of the Spelman College entrepreneurial program, Rachel went on to work in microenterprise development as a graduate/training services leader with BusinessNOW—the Business Neighborhood Organization for Women—an initiative at Goodwill Industries.
Rachel made her most significant and purpose-driven move in 2001 when she accepted the leadership role of Vice President of Operations & Administration at the EDGE, an award-winning microenterprise development organization. She has held leadership responsibility for the organization’s financial management and well-being, human resources oversight, service delivery, program development, and reporting. Rachel was also named Director of the SBA Women’s Business Center program at the EDGE in 2011.
Now the CEO of the EDGE, Rachel is the anchor, advocate, and keeper of the organization’s legacy. With more than twenty years of experience in microbusiness development, she’s leading the EDGE into the future with a new vision—Empowering and Developing Entrepreneurs for Greater Success. Proficient at managing restricted funds and financial resources, Rachel is ensuring the financial health of the EDGE while repositioning the organization in the minds of communities across Georgia and the country. Under her leadership, the EDGE is committed to serving each constituent’s “whole business-self” through Rachel’s three-pronged approach of developing Mindset, Skillset, and Level-set. About the future, Rachel says, “The EDGE is here to stay.”
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