# Coco Brown

> Coco Brown is the founder and CEO of Athena Alliance, a digital leadership platform that has placed nearly 600 women on corporate boards and helped thousands of executives build what she calls a Portfolio of Impact. A five-time entrepreneur who scaled the IT services firm Taos to $54M before its acquisition by IBM, she sits on the Nasdaq Governance Insights Council, has been named one of Silicon Valley's 100 Most Powerful People, and is now building Pantheon, an AI-enabled Career Care infrastructure for an economy being reshaped by automation.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Athena Alliance
- **Organizations:** Athena Alliance, Taos, Nasdaq Governance Insights Council, Xapa (board), ArcherPoint (board)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.A. in Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
- **Known for:** Placed nearly 600 women on corporate boards across private growth-stage and public companies, Scaled Taos to ~$54M in revenue and positioned it for the acquisition by IBM, Named one of Silicon Valley's 100 Most Powerful People

## Career timeline

- **1996** — At age 25, builds her first product: a company HR starter kit with an automated HTML digital employee handbook and self-paced manager training modules.
- **1997** — Begins leading Silicon Valley professional services and technology companies.
- **2002** — Becomes President and COO (and board director) of Taos, a Gartner top-20 global IT professional and managed services firm.
- **2012** — Caps a decade scaling Taos to roughly $54M in revenue and positioning it for private equity; the company is later acquired by IBM.
- **2016** — Founds Athena Alliance as a digital community, education, and opportunity platform for top women in business.
- **2024** — Athena Alliance has placed nearly 600 women on corporate boards; Brown serves on the Nasdaq Governance Insights Council.
- **2025** — Named a Transform 10 honoree; begins guiding development of Pantheon, an AI-enabled Career Care infrastructure built on Athena.

## Achievements

- Placed nearly 600 women on corporate boards across private growth-stage and public companies
- Scaled Taos to ~$54M in revenue and positioned it for the acquisition by IBM
- Named one of Silicon Valley's 100 Most Powerful People
- 2025 Transform 10 honoree for leading transformation in the future of work
- Member of the Nasdaq Governance Insights Council
- Served on ten commercial and nonprofit boards and advisory boards, including audit chair roles
- Five-time entrepreneur
- Built a community of nearly 30,000 social followers and advised hundreds of CEOs and board directors

## Latest updates

- **2025** — Named a Transform 10 honoree and began guiding development of Pantheon, an AI-enabled Career Care platform built on Athena Alliance.
- **2024** — Athena Alliance crossed nearly 600 women placed on corporate boards.

## Links

- Website: https://athenaalliance.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cocobrown
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/cocobrown1020
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athenaalliance/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/coco-brown
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-25