Widely respected as a visionary and coalition builder, Mr. Layne is a wonderful addition to the non-profit space - he joined the Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce as Board Member and Secretary back in 2016. Born and raised in Harlem, NY, Mr. Layne is a lifelong New York Knicks fan. With a background in Information Technology, he completed his undergraduate work at Cornell University studying the African diaspora.

 

After working in the industry for several years, Mr. Layne chose to return to school and completed his engineering work, graduating summa cum laude, from Northwestern University. He has been working in the computer and telecommunications field for over two decades with experience as a professor, trainer, senior technical project manager, CEO and consultant. Mr. Layne is a Co-founder and Co-CEO of TwinFlame Ventures focused on social impact, where he continued the Nature, Technology and Tomorrow initiative dedicated to providing educational opportunities and experiences in technology for underrepresented populations globally.

 

Mr. Layne is currently directing two major projects in California and looks forward to the amazing opportunities this will facilitate for the community. He, most recently, was awarded a $5,000,000 grant from the Department of Education to leverage virtual and augmented reality to help close the skills gap and to construct an Outdoor classroom in conjunction with a community garden to help fight food injustice. Mr. Layne also received $6,108, 912 to build a mobile Makerspace, a 4,150 sq ft Makerspace & Innovation center, and two high-end computing labs and looks forward to expanding on this work with Clean Tech in Chicago.

 

Favorite Quote:“The Universe is not outside of you. Look inside of yourself; everything that you want, you already are.” ~Rumi