St. Louis native Desiree Coleman recently landed a highly visible role at Wells Fargo Advisors, working closely with the president and CEO Danny Ludeman.
As the company’s new civic relationship manager, Coleman connects with the community and shares her thoughts with Ludeman on how Wells Fargo can make an impact in the community through charitable gifts. She also works with Ludeman on his personal civic involvement.
“He is sincere about wanting to support the community,” Coleman said of Ludeman. “Not just a little money, but making a strategic investment.”
This is not the first time Ludeman and Coleman have teamed up on philanthropic strategy. Coleman was previously an associate for major gift giving at the United Way of Greater St. Louis. In 2011, Ludeman chaired the agency’s fundraising campaign.
“Desiree’s deep knowledge of our community and its needs will play an important role in helping us to sustain and strengthen our civic involvement,” Ludeman said.
When Coleman was working on the other side of the philanthropic exchange at United Way, she saw how Wells Fargo always brought high energy to the campaign season.
“Our support for United Way is bar none,” Coleman said of Wells Fargo Advisors. “I remember being at the United Way thinking, ‘They are going to get this done.’”
One of Wells Fargo’s community partnerships is close to her heart – the tutoring program with the St. Louis Public Schools. Coleman oversees the program where employees meet with students each week to tutor in reading and math. Coleman also facilitates several education initiatives for the company.
She feels her position allows her to utilize her youth development background. From 2006 to 2011, Coleman was a senior manager at the Washington, D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Service.
“I did a lot of policy, partnership and programming to help kids get reconnected to school,” she said.
Her team provided wrap-around services to students – from making sure they had the necessary school credits to getting them in job training.
To help her understand how to support change in education, Coleman earned several certificates from prestigious education training programs. One of them was titled “Redesigning High Schools,” which she received from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.
At Wells Fargo, she has been amazed at the infrastructure already in place to support students, along with the high employee participation across the firm.
“This is not a photo opportunity,” she said. “It’s a partnership, and we have a multi-year commitment.”
Coleman has always made a strong commitment to her own education as well. She received bachelor’s degrees in business administration and international relations from University of Missouri at Columbia. She holds a masters degree in public administration from Syracuse University and an executive certificate of nonprofit management from Georgetown University. Coleman is also fluent in Spanish.
Coleman said she shares all of her success with her husband, Rasheen, who recently took a position as the assistant director of development at City Garden Montessori, a charter school. They have two daughters.
“Community engagement is such an important part of our commitment to the St. Louis region,” Ludeman said, “and we’re delighted to have Desiree on board to help us make an even greater impact.”
