A 40-plus-year Friendship Fosters Professional Support
Louise Tilmon, Gray Matter Analytics’ accounting administrator and senior accounting manager since its founding in 2013, has worked for Gray Matter’s president and CEO Sheila Talton at five companies. Their collaboration began through a community introduction and prodding from a mutual friend.
Louise lived in Highland Park, Ill., when Sheila moved there. The few Black families in the Chicago suburb all knew each other, and Louise and Sheila met at a neighbor’s house. Sheila was just starting her first company, and Louise had been a mathematician and programmer with the US Navy, then a high school math teacher. “At the time, I was between jobs, and a friend started expounding on all my possibilities. She suggested Sheila hire me,” Louise says.
Though disinterested because of the ~30-mile commute from Highland Park to downtown Chicago, Louise did agree to have dinner with Sheila … then a visit to the office of Sheila’s startup. After spending time with Sheila, Louise’s corporate career — one that exposed her to a variety of responsibilities more enticing to her than teaching — was born. “Sheila’s very persuasive,” she says.
The shared trajectory of Sheila and Louise’s careers ultimately united Louise’s professional and personal interests. “Healthcare affects me,” she says. “I lost my mother when I was 18, and a lot of the reason was improper care.”
Louise grew up in Missouri and attended segregated schools. She wanted to be a mathematician, but her high school didn’t have all the classes she needed. So, she organized a protest to get access to the advanced algebra class offered to white students. (Her introduction to trigonometry and calculus came through side tutoring in high school.) Howard University gave Louise a full scholarship for a bachelor’s in math, physics and education based on her achievement of high school valedictorian.
But Louise’s mom experienced segregation, too. The diagnosis of a life-threatening condition was delayed because she couldn’t be seen in the best hospitals, which were also segregated at that time. By the time she received clinical care, her disease had progressed beyond a cure.
Louise navigated entrepreneurism with Sheila and got a master’s degree in management with a concentration in finance from Northwestern University in the meantime.
“I like working for Gray Matter. The work is challenging,” Louise says.
In her seventh decade of a varied career, she has no plan to retire. “I’ll always work. I don’t believe in sitting around. I think you need to use your mind to stay sharp.”
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