Dr. Michele Wise Wright, PhD, is Director of Business Development and Outreach for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). Wright has earned accolades for commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, leading efforts to improve visibility and access for underrepresented communities, with features in national outlets, including USA Today, National Geographic, and SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal as the second person of color and first woman to grace the cover.
As CEO of the American Red Cross’ Greater Ozarks-Arkansas Region, Wright received the Sister Friends United Inc. Women of Excellence Business Award and the organization’s inaugural Five-Year Service Award for inspiring women and uplifting her community. She also received the 2024 King Kennedy Awards’ Irma Hunter Brown Women’s Leadership Award and 2024 National Society of Black Engineers Golden Torch Award.
Wright is founder, creator, and CEO of My Water Buddy® and My Learning Buddy®, award-winning edutainment platforms. She is co-founder, board chair, and senior executive director of the National Organization of African Americans with Cystic Fibrosis. She co-founded and co-chairs the annual Blacks, Indigenous, and Other Minority Ethnicities with Rare and Genetic Diseases Conference and created and led development of The Wright Cystic Fibrosis Screening Tool.
Simultaneously, Wright developed the Advocating for Health Equity and Addressing Disparities Initiative and the Coalition of Healthcare Advocates for Narrowing the Gap in Equity Campaign to increase awareness of health disparities in minority and underserved communities, introducing a successful roadmap and advancement strategies.
A Tuskegee, Alabama, native, Wright earned her PhD in public policy, specializing in health and leadership policy, from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She earned a master’s from UT Space Institute, where she chartered the National Society of Black Engineers, as UT’s first GEM Fellow and first Black full-time student with a master’s in industrial engineering and concentration in engineering management.
