Skip to Main Content

Nzinga Shaw

2015 Speaker

NZINGA SHAW is currently the chief diversity and inclusion officer of the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club. She is the first person to hold this position in the National Basketball Association and in all professional sports leagues in North America. Shaw has developed a strategy to embed equity in all programmatic activities, governance and daily administration of the organization. This initiative extends to fans, customers, community partners and to every employee within the workforce. Prior to joining the Atlanta Hawks, Shaw has been at the forefront of leading organizational change through diversity. Most recently, she served as SVP of diversity and inclusion at Edelman, the world’s largest and most profitable public relations agency. Shaw also worked as a human resources practitioner at ESSENCE Magazine, the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network and the National Football League. Recently, Shaw was appointed by Mayor Kasim Reed to serve on the board of directors of the City of Atlanta’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative. She is also on the board for the National Black Arts Festival Contemporaries. Shaw earned a B.A. from Spelman College, an M.L.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and was a study abroad scholar at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. @zingshaw