Renata Allen

Vice President, Strategic Events

Renata Allen, MBA, CMP is the Vice President for Strategic Events at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. She provides leadership, direction, and management of the strategic planning and event execution for all CBCF events including virtual, hybrid, and in-person conferences, fundraisers, special events, policy forums, public policy briefings, community events, and summits. She is responsible for building CBCF’s reputation for high performance results through executional excellence of high caliber strategic events, and developing departmental plans for innovation, revenue growth, and operational improvements while strengthening collaborative partnerships. A results-oriented ambassador with exceptional communication and relationship building expertise, Renata has over 15 years of corporate management and leadership experience across non-profit, higher education, and hospitality industries.

Prior to joining CBCF in 2021, she was the Director of Scheduling and Events where she was responsible for executing campus-wide events including 2 virtual commencements for over 500 graduates. She also strengthened community relations by redesigning the campus event planning process and streamlined campus utilization by community organizations. In addition, she spearheaded fundraising campaigns that increased donations 78% and increased donors by 42% to support annual foundation scholarships.

Prior to her work at Baltimore City Community College, Renata served as the Director of Operations for the American Small Business Alliance, where she was responsible for leading 3 departments (Events, Graphics and Sales/Marketing) to execute an event portfolio of government and international events totaling over $5 million in revenue. She streamlined the RFP/RFI process to successfully negotiate, review, and approve contracts for services such as catering, audio-visual services, general service contractors, hotel accommodations, travel and event venue rentals which reduced operating expenses by 20%.

She also held senior leadership roles in catering at Centerplate at the Baltimore Convention Center and student development roles at Baltimore City Public Schools.

A Baltimore native, Renata has a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management from the Graves School of Business at Morgan State University, a Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from the Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore. She is currently a PHD Candidate pursuing a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the School of Advanced Studies in Leadership & Policy at Morgan State University. She also holds a Certified Meeting Planner (CMP) Designation issued by the Events Industry Council.

Renata is an adjunct faculty-lecturer at Morgan State University teaching undergraduate courses in Hospitality Management. In addition to her teaching duties, she also mentors and advises students on strategies to secure employment in the hospitality industry. She is currently finishing her 2nd year as board treasurer of the Maryland Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and is a proud member of the Baltimore Metropolitan Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Renata lives in Hyattsville, Maryland with her Significant Other and their son, Kyrie.