Yinka Faleti
Senior Vice President
Philanthropic, Donor and Community Services
United Way of Greater St. Louis
Born: Lagos, Nigeria
High School:
Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science
College & Degree(s):
United States Military Academy at West Point, BS, Engineering Psychology
Washington Univ. St. Louis, JD
United Way Young Professionals
(United Way Young Leadership Society, Charmaine Chapman Society, Multicultural Leadership Society, Men’s Leadership Society)
West Point Association of St. Louis
Mound City Bar Association
Missouri Bar
What is most gratifying in your role?
Daily, beginning to understanding more and more the magnitude of the impact of United Way in this region. Every day, I learn about more community initiatives and partnerships we’re behind and I’m humbled to be associated with that ilk of work. By most Fridays, I am spent and empty. By most Mondays, I can’t wait to get back to the work.
What experiences as an active-duty U.S. Army officer have helped you in your role as a manager?
I spent much of my Army career leading people to accomplish difficult tasks under stressful circumstances in often austere environments. In that regard, my leadership experiences beginning, really, at West Point and culminating in the Army, prepared me well for my current role. The mission is different and the environment is different than in the Army, but the essence of good leadership is the same no matter the mission. Building, maintaining and cultivating relationships is at the heart of what my division does at United Way. Leading people to do that well in a rapidly-evolving philanthropic environment—even in a generous community like ours—is challenging when our goals are calculated to stretch us internally and stretch this community to meet the deep needs of our region.
You went from being a lawyer and state prosecutor to directing giving and volunteer engagement at the United Way. Are these positions as completely opposite as they appear?
Yes, in part. My work at Bryan Cave was different than my work as a state prosecutor; and that work was different from my work at United Way. But there are common threads that run through them all: critical thinking and analysis, attention to detail, creativity and persuasiveness. The seeds of service were sown in me at West Point and bloomed in the Army, but the proximate cause of my transition of profession is rooted in my prosecutorial work. As a state prosecutor, I loved helping victims of crime realize justice. But, over time, I began to feel like I was on the back end of the issues contributing to people committing crime. I wanted to get to the front—to get to prevention. I looked to the front and I saw United Way.
Tell us about some of the pro bono work you have done in and around the St. Louis community.
Perhaps my most educational pro bono work was a court-appointed federal prisoner rights case. Working on this case opened my eyes to the procedural workings of the federal prisons justice system. It also increased my appreciation for the procedural due process codified for federal prisoners. For this case, I ordinarily would not have been able to meet my client in person. We communicated almost entirely by mail and spoke by phone only a few times. My client was being held in a Texas prison. Several weeks before his federal trial, I happened to be traveling to Texas for a friend’s wedding. I figured I was as close as I was going to be; so, while in Texas, I drove to the prison to meet with him. I was surprised and humbled to meet a man who wouldn’t have stood out in a crowd. Meeting and spending some time with him helped me to humanize someone who otherwise may have only been a federal number on a case file. Working on that case gave me perspective to treat everyone—even criminal defendants—with a certain fundamental respect as a human being.
