Tommy McNeal spent years at the top of the corporate ladder, overseeing customer experience for a Fortune 50 company. He was good at it. He climbed by letting his work ethic speak for itself. But the feeling never left him. "In the back of my mind, like most of us in our Black community, there's this sense that we're all replaceable." In this episode of On the Radar from the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, host Aaliyah Demry sits down with McNeal, president and CEO of McNeal Management Inc., to talk about the decision to leave corporate America, what he is building in Brooklyn Center and why he believes executive knowledge should flow back into the community. McNeal, a former Chicago native who has called Minnesota home for more than two decades, retired from corporate life driven by faith and a desire to build generational wealth that could not be taken away. In 2019 he founded McNeal Management Inc., the parent company of McNeal Business Enterprise, which operates three core pillars: McNeal Consulting, SPARK and Flame Mobile Kitchen. The flagship project is the McNeal Management Business and Event Center at 1907 57th Ave. in Brooklyn Center, just off Highway 100 and John Martin Drive. The 30,000-square-foot facility will feature a business incubator, shared administrative services, a commercial kitchen and a 1,000-seat event venue designed for galas, banquets and regional conferences. Originally planned for two acres, the City of Brooklyn Center granted pre-development rights to expand the site to eight acres, opening the door for a potential second phase focused on community housing. "This is a true gift from God. It's an accumulation of all of my work and my focus around what's important to me, which is community." The business incubator under McNeal Consulting will give small business owners access to legal services, human resources support and financial literacy coaching, services McNeal says are typically reserved for large corporations. Also housed in the center will be SPARK, Supporting People Acquire Reentry Knowledge, a workforce development program McNeal founded in 2025 to create non-traditional pathways into the job market for people returning to the workforce, including parents re-entering after time at home. The facility's commercial kitchen will anchor Flame Mobile Kitchen, McNeal's mobile catering company, which will support community events from the new space. McNeal also shares advice for young entrepreneurs, many of whom are building brands and businesses while still in high school. His message is direct: treat your company with the same intentionality and prestige as your favorite high-end experience, get your paperwork in order, file your taxes and stop treating it like a hustle. "Treat your company, regardless of the size and scale of it, no different than your favorite place to be wined and dined in." To celebrate the development, McNeal is hosting a Land Launch fundraising celebration on August 15 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Brooklyn Center site. The event will feature a Frankie Beverly and Maze tribute concert, the 7th Annual Black Beauty and Hair Expo and a food vendor showcase led by Flame Mobile Kitchen. Groundbreaking and construction are expected to be completed between late 2028 and early 2029.
