Marshawn Wolley, CDE, CFRE, CFMP is President and CEO of Black Onyx Management, a Black owned and operated management consulting firm that helps organizations develop practices, projects and programs that empower communities.

Black Onyx Management specializes in understanding the perspective of local communities through research, then developing programs that help organizations reach their outcomes.
Marshawn holds an MBA from the IU Kelley School of Business and an MPA from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He has a Master of Arts degree in Philanthropic Studies from the Lilly School of Philanthropy and a Master of Science in Economics from Indiana University. Marshawn is also a certified diversity executive, certified fund-raising executive, certified financial marketing professional, a certified community development block grant administrator and a Six Sigma Green Belt.

Before founding Black Onyx Management, Marshawn served as an appointed official working on quality-of-life issues, in the private sector in both fundraising as well as community outreach, MWBE development and compliance, as well as a lecturer on public affairs for the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI, where he taught courses on public management and managing workforce diversity, community development and criminal justice and diversity issues.

Nationally recognized as a thought leader on stratification economics, public policy and small business development he is an award winning and syndicated columnist for the Indianapolis Recorder and writes a monthly column in the Indianapolis Business Journal Forefront magazine on diversity, equity, and inclusion, business topics and public policy. He is also a contributor op-ed writer for the IndyStar. Marshawn is also a frequent presenter at national conferences related to community economic development and small business finance. He was appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Advisory Council for Small Business and is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Presidents and CEOs Circle. A 2016 IBJ Forty under 40 recipient, he was also recognized as a National Hero in the Movement by the National Urban League Young Professionals and a Forward Thinker by Indiana Governor Mike Pence. He is also a philanthropist whose community work earned him recognition by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Indianapolis Chapter as Corporate philanthropist of the year in 2024. Marshawn is a proud Dad of Alexander Wolley. As the founder of Black Onyx Management, as a public benefit corporation with the purpose of empowering Black and marginalized communities, he believes, “if you want something you have never seen before, you must do things you have never done before.”