Melissa L. Bradley is the founder and managing partner of 1863 Ventures, a business development program that accelerates new-majority entrepreneurs from high potential to high growth. Driven by purpose and with decades of hands-on experience, Bradley understands the importance of marrying the needs of the new-majority entrepreneur with access to capital, operational training, and relevant data. 

As this core community of entrepreneurs has multiplied, their need for business development information at scale has also risen. To meet this market need and expand her reach, Bradley launched the media and entertainment brand New Majority Ventures, in partnership with Kinetic Energy Entertainment.

Bradley serves as a general partner of the 1863 Venture Fund, a venture partner at NextGen Ventures, and an advisor to Reign Ventures, New Voices Foundation, and the Halcyon Fund. She is a board member of Ureeka, a small business platform company she co-founded and sold, as well as Eat the Change, Motley Fool Foundation, and AEO. She is also a member of the Milken Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Asset Management Initiative, Goldman Sachs’ One Million Black Women Advisory Council, Launch with GS Advisory Council, Fast Company Executive Board, Square & Forbes Small Business Advisory Team, and the Target Accelerators Entrepreneurs Advisory Council. Bradley is the former co-chair of the National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and was named to the 2022, Forbes 50 Over 50 list for social entrepreneurship.

Bradley is a professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, where she teaches impact investing, social entrepreneurship, P2P economies, and innovation. Over the last two years, she was commended with the Peter W. Gonzalez, Jr. Award for Excellence in Adjunct Faculty Teaching and The Ideas Worth Teaching Award, which celebrates exceptional courses that are preparing future business leaders to tackle society’s largest challenges and create a more inclusive, just, and sustainable version of capitalism.

Bradley received her Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and her Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing from  American University in 1993.