Kelly Major Green Makes History as First Black Woman on Detroit Athletic Club Board, Encourages Legacy and Leadership at Every Level
The walls of the Detroit Athletic Club have stood tall for over a century. Inside them, generations of Detroit’s business elite, power brokers, and policy shapers have gathered, but for far too long, those halls echoed a silence that’s all too familiar—no Black woman had ever been elected to its board of directors. That changed when Kelly Major Green etched her name into Detroit history. This moment didn’t come with fanfare or confetti. It came with quiet power, community intention, and the lived experience of a woman who has always been Detroit.
Green is more than a board member. She is a blueprint. Raised in Detroit, shaped by the grit of its neighborhoods, and rooted by the legacy of her 92-year-old mother whose lasting impact drives her daily, Green stands as a living reflection of what happens when brilliance meets intention. “I’m a Detroiter through and through. I was born and raised in Detroit. I went away to go to school. I’ve lived in Chicago for a while and then came back home to live here closer to my parents,” she shared. “So I am all about repping the 313. I love the city. I have great affection for Detroit. I like Detroit’s no-nonsense attitude. The approach to life and business is definitely a part of what I aspire to personally.”
Her life isn’t curated for applause—it’s built on purpose. That purpose shows up in how she lives, where she lives, and why she lives there. “I’m married to my wonderful husband who puts up with me and all the things that I do, John Green Jr., and we’ve been married since 2007. We live in the city. I’ve always lived in the city in part. We don’t have any children, but the reason we live in the city is to support the city, to support the tax rolls, particularly for children who don’t have the capacity to pay for their own education. We feel like a part of our commitment here is to support that.”
For many, joining the Detroit Athletic Club is a symbol of arrival. For Green, it was always deeper than that. “I’ve been a member of the Detroit Athletic Club—this is my 20th year as a member. As a member of the club, it is for me an extension of my work life. Play, exercise—all of those things are encompassed in the Detroit Athletic Club with a broad array of other members and staff who have become like friends and family to me.”
Her professional credentials are indisputable. An electrical engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania. An MBA in marketing and entrepreneurship from Northwestern University. Currently serving as an institutional consulting director at Greystone Consulting, a division of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Her expertise in wealth management isn’t about gatekeeping—it’s about opening the door wider, with the mindset that health is wealth, and access is essential.
But this moment—this appointment—carries a weight that’s historic and deeply personal. “I believe I’m correct in saying there’s only one other woman of color, Black woman, who ran for the board—Linda Forte, who is also a Michigan Chronicle Woman of Excellence, as I am,” Green noted. “I know Linda paved the way along with other board members to get to this moment. And frankly, I don’t know that I’ve completely digested it yet. I mean, I’m honored to have been elected by the membership, and I don’t know if the moment has really sunk in for me personally. I got elected and got right to work on the board because it’s an important job. There’s a lot of volume of work.”
Green speaks with the clarity of someone who’s moved by legacy. She honors those who came before her while building space for those yet to arrive. “I am incredibly grateful to the support that I got from my fellow members and the support, frankly, from current and former leaders inside the club—including people like Linda, who ran for the board and, although she was unsuccessful, she made history as well as the first Black woman to ever run. That was incredibly motivating.”
Representation is not symbolic—it is structural. It’s about changing who has a seat at the table and who feels welcome enough to imagine themselves there. Green gets that. She knows this moment isn’t isolated from the social climate of 2025. “It also isn’t lost on me—the time that we’re living in. The fact that Vice President Harris made a historic run and she was making history herself, and how Black women are embraced in all aspects of life in 2025. I was overwhelmed at the moment, and I still get overwhelmed thinking about it, which is why I probably haven’t allowed it to completely sink in.”
What makes Green’s leadership magnetic is not only her accolades—it’s how grounded she is in her mission. There’s a genuine desire to pour back into her community. That’s been clear from the feedback she’s received. “People came to me and said—other African-American women, either members or nonmembers—who said things like, ‘My grandmother used to work in the laundry at the “XYZ” club, and how proud they would have been to see me in this role.’ My hope is to inspire other young women, women of color, African-American women, and just be a role model—whether I’m actively coaching that or just by their observance of me—that they can be inspired to know that anything is possible for them.”
Green isn’t asking for validation. She’s building on a foundation. This appointment may be her personal milestone, but the impact is collective. Black women in Detroit and beyond are watching, processing, and realizing that glass ceilings inside even the most exclusive institutions can and must be shattered—not for applause, but for access, for voice, for legacy.
What stands out about her story is how it encapsulates Detroit’s dual truth: its fight and its future. Green represents both. She carries the evidence of her mother’s resilience, the rigor of academic excellence, the strategic clarity of a financial powerhouse, and the soul of a woman who never left her city behind—even when the rest of the country tried to write it off.
Every achievement she holds is wrapped in intention. From how she and her husband invest in the city’s infrastructure by paying into the same tax system that funds Detroit Public Schools, to the way she values wellness as a non-negotiable part of success—Kelly Major Green is not simply making history at the Detroit Athletic Club. She’s holding that door open for the next Black woman to walk through it with less resistance and more support.
Detroiters know the significance of “firsts,” but they also know the importance of what follows. Sustaining presence, creating policy, mentoring future leaders—those are the next steps. Green is already walking in that. She’s not waiting for a title to tell her what leadership looks like. She’s been doing the work. This board seat is just the recognition catching up.
Moments like this are never about one woman. They are about community evolution. They are about reimagining institutions and shifting narratives from exclusion to inclusion—brick by brick, seat by seat. Green’s story is not wrapped in exceptionalism—it’s grounded in what happens when excellence meets opportunity, when dedication meets access.
Detroit has always been about more than what headlines tell. It’s a place of possibility, of transformation, and of deep, undeniable pride. Kelly Major Green sits at the intersection of those truths. She’s not just making history—she’s moving history forward, unapologetically, with the kind of love for her city that shows up in action.
The board seat is symbolic. Her presence is seismic. And the culture she’s affirming by being exactly who she is—that’s the real win.