Teri Williams

Teri Williams transformed Black banking into a national movement for ownership, financial literacy, and generational wealth.

Teri Williams Biography: Early Life, Education, and Career

Teri Williams was born in 1964 in Indiantown, Florida, and developed an early interest in mathematics, economics, and the power of education. Although she once considered becoming a math teacher, her studies led her toward finance and business leadership.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics with distinctions from Brown University before completing a Master of Business Administration with honors at Harvard Business School. This combination of analytical training and business strategy prepared her for a career in major financial institutions.

Before becoming a bank owner, Teri Williams built valuable experience at Bank of America and American Express. At American Express, she gained recognition as one of the company’s youngest vice presidents. Her corporate background gave her insight into marketing, operations, strategic planning, and customer-focused financial services.

Her professional direction changed in the mid-1990s, when she learned that the Boston Bank of Commerce needed new leadership. Founded in 1962 to serve Black customers and communities that had often been excluded by traditional financial institutions, the bank represented an opportunity to connect business expertise with social purpose.

Teri Williams OneUnited Bank Leadership and Ownership

In 1995, Teri Williams and her husband, Kevin Cohee, acquired the Boston institution and began building a broader vision for community banking. Rather than treating the bank as a local business alone, they viewed it as a platform for economic participation, homeownership, entrepreneurship, and long-term wealth creation.

Over the following years, the leadership group acquired three additional Black-owned banks, including institutions serving Miami and Los Angeles. In the mid-2000s, those organizations were consolidated under the OneUnited Bank name. The merger created a stronger national institution while preserving a focus on predominantly Black communities.

As president and chief operating officer, Williams has overseen the bank’s strategic initiatives and day-to-day operations. Her responsibilities have included lending, retail banking, marketing, compliance, information technology, customer support, legal affairs, and human resources.

OneUnited also embraced online banking as consumer habits changed. That digital transition helped the institution serve customers beyond its physical branches and strengthened its identity as a modern Black-owned bank. The bank is widely recognized as the largest Black-owned bank in the United States and as an important voice in discussions about closing the racial wealth gap.

Her leadership combines commercial discipline with a clear social mission. Through OneUnited, the institution has provided substantial lending to low- and moderate-income communities in places such as Roxbury, South Central Los Angeles, Compton, and Liberty City in Miami.

Building Financial Confidence Through Community Programs

Williams has treated financial education as an essential part of economic empowerment. Her work reflects the idea that access to a bank account is only one step toward financial security. People also need practical knowledge about saving, credit, borrowing, investing, homeownership, and responsible money management.

She wrote I Got Bank! What My Granddad Taught Me About Money, a financial literacy book created to help young people understand money in an accessible and encouraging way. The book grew from her observation that many urban children lacked financial education materials that reflected their communities and experiences.

OneUnited’s community initiatives have included financial literacy workshops, youth essay contests, and programs focused on neighborhood improvement and homeownership. These efforts connect banking services with personal development and civic investment.

The OneUnited Mural Project, for example, joined public art, youth development, community beautification, and STEAM education. Other initiatives have encouraged residents to pursue homeownership and build generational wealth. Such programs show how a financial institution can become a community partner rather than simply a place for deposits and loans.

Her public message has also supported the broader movement encouraging consumers to consider where they keep their money. By promoting Black banking and economic participation, Williams has helped make institutional ownership part of a wider conversation about racial equity.

Historical Impact and Lasting Legacy

The historical importance of Williams’s career extends beyond her executive title. Black-owned banks have long played a vital role in serving customers who faced discrimination, limited access to credit, and exclusion from mainstream financial systems. By helping combine several institutions into one national organization, she contributed to the preservation and expansion of that tradition.

Her example is especially significant because she has operated at the intersection of finance, race, gender, entrepreneurship, and public service. A Black woman leading and owning a major community-focused bank challenges assumptions about who can control financial institutions and shape economic policy.

Williams has received recognition from organizations including the Urban League, the NAACP, and the National Black MBA Association. In 2022, Forbes selected her for its 50 Over 50 list in financial services. She has also served in civic and business leadership roles connected with economic development and community advancement.

Her family history has added a personal dimension to her public work. Williams has spoken about her great-grandmother, known as Ma Honey, a self-made entrepreneur who built businesses in the segregated South. That story illustrates the resilience and enterprise that can survive even when institutions deny equal opportunity.

Williams’s legacy therefore rests on more than the growth of OneUnited Bank. It includes the young readers reached through financial literacy, the families supported through lending, the neighborhoods strengthened through investment, and the aspiring professionals inspired by her example.

Her career demonstrates that banking can be both a business and a vehicle for social progress. By combining executive expertise with community commitment, she has helped create a model of ownership rooted in service, representation, and generational opportunity.