Autumn Kyles is the Program Director for the Small Business Ecosystem & Financial Wellness Collaborative at the Washington Area Community Investment Fund (Wacif). Autumn is a program manager and economic development leader with more than nine years of experience designing and directing entrepreneurship initiatives that address ecosystem fragmentation and drive real outcomes for underinvested entrepreneurs across the DMV and beyond.

In this role, Autumn leads a three-year initiative focused on strengthening partner alignment, improving financial wellness outcomes, and ensuring DC entrepreneurs receive the right support at the right time. Her work spans ecosystem mapping and gap analysis, building and managing the Ecosystem Coordination Group, standing up cross-sector referral systems, and embedding shared data and impact measurement infrastructure across partners. She brings deep experience coordinating government agencies, CDFIs, entrepreneur support organizations, universities, and community organizations to reduce duplication and close service gaps across the entrepreneurial journey.

Throughout her career, Autumn has designed and delivered programming supporting 3,000+ businesses across six cities and three states, helped more than 200 Black-owned businesses become funding-ready, and contributed to more than $10 million in capital and grant funding awarded to program participants. Before joining Wacif, she held leadership roles in entrepreneurship program management and change management, including a large-scale Small Business Administration digital transformation initiative that reached more than 200 leaders across 62 regional offices nationwide.

Autumn holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and a Master of Business Administration from Hampton University. A Northern Virginia resident originally from Detroit, MI, Autumn lives with her fiancé and their two cats, Ash and Spotlight. Outside of work, she is an avid fitness enthusiast who has completed a solo HYROX competition and a 10K race.