Charleston Business Magazine: 50 Most Influential People
Tonya M. Matthews, Ph.D, President and CEO of the International African American Museum
As president and CEO of Charleston’s International African American Museum, Tonya M. Matthews oversaw the 2023 opening of the second-largest African American Museum in the United States. Matthews has said that one of her goals with the museum is to tell the many stories – both sad and joyful – that are woven through the African American experience.
She has a background as both poet and engineer, and she works closely with many community- and economic-development projects.
Matthews has been honored as Trailblazer by Career Mastered Magazine (2017). She is a former member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Science Education and was appointed by both Democratic and Republican administrations to the National Assessment Governing Board.
She earned her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and her Bachelor of Science in biomedical and electrical engineering from Duke University, alongside a certificate in African/African American studies.