Sharmain Matlock-Turner

Sharmain Matlock-Turner is the CEO of the Urban Affairs Coalition. She began her tenure in March 1999 with the special distinction of being the first woman to lead the Coalition. The Urban Affairs Coalition, formerly GPUAC, unites government, business, neighborhoods, and individual initiative to improve the quality of life in the region, build wealth in urban communities, and solve emerging issues.

In partnership with a diverse Board of Directors composed of business, nonprofit, and community leaders, Ms. Matlock-Turner and her team of managers and nearly 450 employees create partnerships and build consensus to help families reduce poverty and reach the middle class. The organization’s efforts focus on four areas: improving life chances for youth and young adults; building wealth in low-income communities; forging strategic partnerships; and strengthening the nonprofit sector through fiscal sponsorship. The organization has successfully managed more than $1 billion in public and private funds throughout its more than 57-year history.

Ms. Matlock-Turner is co-founder and President Emeritus of the West Oak Lane Charter School. She also serves on the following boards and committees: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Board of Directors; The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia; Philadelphia Equity Alliance; Philadelphia Foundation Board of Directors; Pyramid Club Board of Governors; Summer Youth Employment Cabinet; Civic Coalition to Save Lives Advisory Board; IBC Regional Advisory Board; Black Nonprofit Chief Executives of Philadelphia Advisory Board; Children’s First Advisory Council; and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s Pennsylvania Advisory Committee.

Ms. Matlock-Turner is a founding member of the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors. Matlock-Turner co-authored the ‘Reflecting Forward: Philadelphia-based Black Leaders’ Recommendations for Regional Funders‘ and the ‘PAALF Research Report on African American Non-profit Organizations in Philadelphia‘ reports.

Ms. Matlock-Turner has received numerous awards and honors, including recognition among the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Power 100 and induction into Temple University’s College of Education and Human Development Gallery of Success. She has also been named one of the Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania, received a City & State Pennsylvania Impact Award and the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Diversity in Business Lifetime Achievement Award, and been recognized by the Philadelphia Tribune as one of Philadelphia’s Most Influential African Americans and a Mover and Shaker. Additional honors include the Philadelphia Award, the Committee of Seventy’s Civic Leadership Award, the Mann Center’s Voices of Hope Innovation Award for Community Advancement, the Community Design Collaborative’s Leverage Award, and recognition as a Philadelphia Business Journal Woman of Influence. She has also been inducted into the Historic Germantown Hall of Fame and honored with the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Diversity and Inclusion Award and the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Most Admired CEO Award.

Ms. Matlock-Turner is often invited to speak before local, regional, and national organizations. She is also a regular guest commentator on 6abc’s public affairs television program, Inside Story.

Ms. Matlock-Turner holds a BS degree in Education from Temple University. In 2005, she was one of three Philadelphia nonprofit leaders selected to receive a scholarship to the Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management. In 2014 she received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Peirce College. She is a Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Fels Institute for Government.

She is a Philadelphia resident and is married to Anthony “Tony” Turner with two grown daughters, Ayanna Matlock and Naima Fleming, and is the grandmother of Joshua Matlock Hale.

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For media interviews with Sharmain Matlock-Turner, contact her office at 215-851-0110.