Wayne Sutton was a 2017 New America CA fellow. Sutton is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Change Catalyst and its Tech Inclusion programs. Tech Inclusion is dedicated to exploring innovative solutions to diversity and inclusion in tech through the Tech Inclusion Conference, consulting and workshops. Sutton's experience includes years of establishing partnerships with large brands to early stage startups. As a leading voice in diversity and inclusion in tech, Sutton shares his thoughts on solutions and culture in various media outlets where he has been featured in TechCrunch, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. In addition to mentoring and advising early stage startups, Sutton's life goal is to educate entrepreneurs who are passionate about using technology to change the world. Sutton writes about entrepreneurship, startups, diversity & inclusion in tech at SocialWayne.com.
Sutton has over 14 years experience in technology, design and business development. Sutton has been recognized as one of the Silicon Valley 100 coolest people in tech, one of the 52 hottest new stars in Silicon Valley, one of the 46 Most Important African-Americans In Technology by Business Insider, and one of the Top 100 most influential black people on social media in 2014.
In 2014, Sutton co-founded a nonprofit designed to support an inclusive ecosystem of entrepreneurs through educational workshops and fellows program for underrepresented tech founders. In 2011, Sutton co-founded the NewMe Accelerator, the first minority led startup accelerator/incubator in Silicon Valley which was featured in CNN Black in America 4. Prior to NewMe he worked in media in Raleigh, NC for NBC17 and the News and Observer. In 2009, Sutton was the co-founder of TriOut, a mobile location-based startup in Raleigh, N.C. which exited. Sutton has worked with large brands, Inc 500 companies and advises several technology startups. With a passion for community, Sutton has organized conferences, tech meetups, and hackathons.
Sutton is a past TED attendee in 2012. With a passion for education and storytelling, he has spoken at several universities and major internet and technology focused conferences such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, Duke, UNC, NC State, TEDx, World Wide Web(WWW) Conference, O’Reilly Web 2.0 Expo, SXSW, DockerCon 2015 and for the U.S. Embassy Jamaica during Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015.