Lonnie Ali
Lifetime Director and Vice Chair of the Board, Muhammad Ali Center
2025
Lonnie Ali, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, completed her BA degree at Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1978. After graduation, Lonnie began her business career with Kraft Foods, Inc. She continued her studies at UCLA’s Graduate School of Management and received an MBA in 1986.
After her marriage to Muhammad Ali in November 1986, she assumed responsibility and management of his business affairs. In 1992, she formally incorporated Greatest of All Time, Inc. (GOAT Inc.) to centralize and license her husband’s intellectual properties for commercial purposes. She served as Vice President and Treasurer of GOAT, Inc. until the sale of the company in 2006. During her tenure, Lonnie managed the company’s daily operations and accompanied Muhammad on business trips and humanitarian initiatives, domestically and around the world. After the sale of GOAT, Lonnie was asked to serve on the management board of the newly formed Muhammad Ali Enterprises.
In 1997, Lonnie and Muhammad helped launch the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center (MAPC) in Phoenix. Lonnie and her husband unveiled the Muhammad and Lonnie Ali Pavilion in 2009, which houses the Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center at Barrow Neurological Institute.
She and her husband opened the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville in November of 2005, where she serves as a Lifetime Director and as Vice Chair of the Center’s Board.
Lonnie has been active in various charitable causes, including advocating for children’s rights and Parkinson’s disease research. From 2010 to 2013, Lonnie served on the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues.
Lonnie was the 2010 recipient of AARP’s Inspire Award, was named in 2012 as one of Arizona’s 48 Most Intriguing Women, and was inducted into The National Consortium for Academics and Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. She has also been honored by The Foundation of Wesley Woods with the Key to a Cure Award, Child Help, and the HollyRod Foundation. Lonnie received the Keep Memory Alive Caregiver Hero Award from the Cleveland Clinic’s Keep Memory Alive Power of Love® Gala and, most recently, the M.T Kasalu Women of Honor Award, presented by LIZADEEL in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
My network of professionals working on countering hate in all its forms grew exponentially after attending Eradicate Hate in 2021. The myriad voices represented at Eradicate Hate, from big tech companies to academic researchers to those with lived experience, reinforced to me the importance of cross-cutting and collaborative approaches to counter hate and its devastating impacts on society. I’ve been fortunate to sustain and build those networks with many of those I met at Eradicate Hate in 2021.
