Malcolm Coley

Malcomb Coley, whose name is synonymous with help for those left behind or left out, is The Charlotte Post Foundation’s 2026 Luminary award winner.

Since arriving in Charlotte with accounting firm EY in 2013, Coley has championed a litany of philanthropic causes, with emphasis on uplifting marginalized communities. Growing up in public housing in Goldsboro, NC, his family benefitted from United Way agencies. That shaped his outlook. “It was in my DNA that I will always give back,” he says. After joining EY in 1990, “the first thing I did was get involved with United Way. Here, I continued that journey.”

“Malcomb Coley is a champion of people who need a break to live a more productive and satisfying life,” said Gerald Johnson, publisher of The Charlotte Post and president of The Charlotte Post Foundation. “Because of his hard work and generosity, the Queen City is a better place for all.” The Foundation will honor Coley at an October 3 banquet.In Charlotte, Coley chaired the board of the United Way of Central Carolinas, as well as the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance and was among those who created that organization from two legacy groups. He’s also involved with the heavy-weight Charlotte Executive Leadership Council.

He led the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative and calls it “probably my proudest community-based charitable effort.” After raising $257 million, it catapulted Johnson C. Smith University into the HBCU top-10. Further, it championed six Charlotte corridors of opportunity, “working with corporations in showing there is a pathway to ensure that Black and Brown individuals have an opportunity to move to executive leadership roles in their organizations,” he says.

Gene Woods, CEO of Advocate Health, sums up simply: “Malcomb adopted Charlotte. Charlotte adopted Malcomb. What a gift that exchange has been.”

Woods cited specifics. “As a founder of Bright Hope Capital, he has put real resources behind creating jobs and expanding opportunity – backing people with talent who haven’t always had access to capital or support.”

Coley joined Charlotte business titan Hugh McColl and Lloyd Yates, a former executive vice president at Duke Energy, to create an investment fund called Bright Hope Capital. The expressed purpose was “to invest in Black and Brown businesses,” Coley says.

The fund’s first investment was in RJ Leeper Construction, which McColl, former CEO of Bank of America, helped ex-city councilman Ron Leeper form in the 1990s. Bright Hope uses RJ Leeper as an umbrella for industrial and commercial electrical groups, a concrete division and a firm that cleans up major construction sites.

“We try to create equity,” Coley explains. “It gives inspiration to other people of color. We grew this company from $30-something million to almost $200 million in a relatively short period. Our aspiration is to grow up to $350 million. For our portfolio, the goal is to be a $500 million conglomerate of different businesses.”

Bright Hope also operates in Wilmington where Coley supports UNC Wilmington. He earned a bachelor’s and an MBA there. The firm also has a Raleigh office as well as initiatives in the Triad. “We’re the largest Black-owned business in Charlotte and the state of North Carolina,” Coley says.

After a couple of decades with EY, in Raleigh, then Atlanta, Coley moved to Charlotte where he spent a dozen years before retirement in 2025. He was EY’s managing partner for the Charlotte region and presiding partner for the central region, covering 22 states and 40 offices. The Charlotte area included 570 workers when he arrived; it employed more than 2,200 when he left. These days, his dual titles are managing partner at Bright Hope Capital and senior vice president for business development at RJ Leeper. “I’m enjoying retirement,” Coley says, “but failing at it. I’m probably busier now than I was the last 18 months at EY.”

Keith Cockrell can vouch for that. “I actually talk to him less in his retirement,” says the president of Bank of America Charlotte. “I haven’t encountered anyone like him in terms of his commitment to serving others. Quite frankly, he has been an inspiration to me. He’s omnipresent. He takes on causes that he believes deeply in and his commitment is broad and deep.”

Through EY, Coley met his wife Tammy of Asheboro, NC. She’s chief transformation officer with an accounting software solutions firm. The Coleys have four adult children, all of whom earned degrees and lead successful lives. Coley long enjoyed running but, at 61, he’s mostly a walker. “I’m a country boy at heart,” he says. “I enjoy fishing and hunting. I’m blessed at least once a year to go hunting with Mr. McColl at his ranch. It’s one of the highlights of my year.” Yet he loves business and civic work. “I’m really enjoying community engagement,” he says, “and what we’re trying to accomplish at Bright Hope Capital.”