DIONNE YVETTE BROWN is a minister of the gospel who has been duly anointed by God, but refused ordination by the institutional church. She has been driven by education, excellence, and ethics all her life. Those qualities did not serve her well in the church. A cataclysmic experience led her to discern her call to ministry in November 1995. She subsequently quit her job and moved to Atlanta sight unseen to pursue theological studies in 1997. Her pastor withheld ordination from her because she would not relent to his sexual harassment. Not one to be deterred, she left her denomination and finished seminary without ever abandoning her vocation.
Barriers to professional ministry have not discouraged her from exercising her calling. Her writings and service are an extension of Dionne’s defiant commitment to who and whose she is. Her debut book, Deinstitutionalizing God: A Minister’s Journey on Leaving Church to Save Her Faith, describes her spiritual journey while also analyzing organized religion.
Dionne began working as a management consultant after completing her first master’s degree in 1994. Her career has involved providing strategic advice and helping customers to implement large-scale organizational change, while assuming progressively responsible leadership roles throughout. The passage of the HITECH and Affordable Care Acts served as the catalyst for her to launch an independent consulting practice in 2010 to focus on advancing health reform.
A commitment to making the world better permeates every aspect of Dionne’s life. She has provided services to many political campaigns and served as a surrogate speaker, health policy strategist, and outreach coordinator during the 2000 Presidential campaign of Al Gore. She has been active in many community organizations and is a Diamond Life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She has also served on the Boards of several nonprofit and service organizations. Acts 20:24 remains her inspiration: However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
Dionne earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland, a Master of Public Policy from Duke University, and a Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Dionne is a native of Washington, D.C. where she currently resides and formerly served as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner.
