GABC Staff

Tam Hawkins is the President and CEO of the Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce, where she previously served as the Vice President of Corporate Engagement & Membership. Her background includes corporate sales & marketing management roles for some of the nation’s most admired companies.  Although well versed in large corporate space, her personal entrepreneurial experience with commercial real estate development has left her well-versed in the needs of small- to medium-sized business owners.

The Dallas native’s volunteer commitments attest to her passion for civic engagement on local, national and international levels. Tam is a board member of the East Austin Conservancy, a group committed to strengthening the fabric of East Austin by promoting affordable housing and economic diversity.  She also is currently a member of the Austin Area Research Organization and serves on Leadership Austin, Texas Lyceum, Visit Austin, City of Austin Economic Prosperity Commission and Ronald McDonald House Central Texas boards.

Renata Estes Brown is the Director of Special Projects for the Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce. She is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Global Studies, and a minor in African and Latinx Studies. She has a passion for small business, entrepreneurship, and community empowerment, and uses technology as the vehicle to combine them all. In her spare time, she creates websites and graphics for small businesses and nonprofits.

This Austin native’s interest in small business and community development extends to other cultures as well. She has shared her time with spanish-speaking citizens in Dove Springs to teach computer literacy. She also spent part of her academic career in the Dominican Republic, where she worked hand-in-hand with classmates to carry out various beautification projects in Santiago. 

Renata is an alumni and donor of the Fearless Leadership Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a member of the Social Innovation Grant Review Committee for Impact Austin. As a technologist, she is also a Full Stack Web Development Graduate of the Austin Coding Academy.