LaChaun Banks

LaChaun Banks a seasoned professional in economic development, strategic planning, leadership and management.  She teaches courses on economic development at UNC Kenan-Flagler where she is creating and developing experiential learning programs for MBA students.

She also serves as a research fellow at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, working specifically on the drivers of place-based economic growth as part of the American Growth Project initiative. This includes helping to expand the institute’s outreach and visibility with public officials, corporate partners and other stakeholders in major metropolitan areas around the country.

Banks previously served as associate director of NCGrowth at the Kenan Institute, where she led programs in economic development and managed teams that supported local startups and businesses in rural areas.

She also worked at Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and as associate director for practitioner communities with the Ash Center’s Innovations in Government Program, where she managed a network of the 45 largest cities and urban markets in the U.S.

At the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, she wrote and managed the deployment and adoption of the “City Leader Guide for Equitable Economic Development” with mayors across the U.S. and internationally.

Banks earned her MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler and her BA in international studies from UNC-Chapel Hill with a concentration in global economics, trade and development. She also has an MPA and a certificate in management, leadership and decision sciences from the Harvard Kennedy School.