Keynotes
Ja’Net Defell
Chief Executive Officer, Community Desk Chicago
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Ja’Net Defell
Chief Executive Officer, Community Desk Chicago
Ja’Net Defell (Ja-Nay De-Fell) is the President and CEO of Community Desk Chicago (The Desk). Ja’Net launched The Desk in March 2023 to help shift power dynamics and improve the quality of life in under-resourced communities through capacity building, technical coaching and coordinated resources. Under Ja’Net’s leadership, The Desk launched a $3M Neighborhood Developers Initiative program focused on comprehensive capacity-building for neighborhood-based real estate development in the Englewood, South Shore and Humboldt Park communities of Chicago. This initial investment is projected to garner an additional $20M in direct investments to these communities.
Ja’Net was also instrumental in helping to formalize a city-wide effort around commercial shared ownership models in communities, now known as Community Investment Vehicles (CIVs). Through her collaborative research, a CIV Playbook was produced to provide a roadmap for communities to acquire and control neighborhood assets. There are now more than 10 emerging CIV models in Chicago.
Ja’Net’s work has been featured in several articles and media including, Block Club Chicago, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Suntimes,The U, and WBEZ. Ja’Net has more than 20 years of management consulting, urban planning and real estate development experience. Prior to leading The Desk, Ja’Net served as a real estate subject matter expert for a federal agency, a real estate consultant and developer for a community lender and a management consultant. Ja’Net holds a Master of Urban Planning and Policy (MUPP) degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree from the University of Michigan. She is a Fulcrum Fellow and a Field Catalyst with the Center for Community Investment, a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a LEED Green Associate.
Dr. Janelle Williams, PhD
Co-Founder and CEO, Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative
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Janelle Williams, PhD
Co-Founder and CEO, Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative
Dr. Janelle Williams is a visionary strategist that inspires people, practices, and possibilities. She has committed her life to a mission of advancing strategies, investments and policies that increase opportunities for disinvested communities – particularly those bearing the burdens of systemic racism and economic exclusion. She serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative, a catalytic change agent committed to closing the racial wealth gap.
Previously, Dr. Williams served as Principal Adviser with the Community Economic Development team at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, where she worked internally and externally to advance system mandates and strategic priorities, while applying defensible, equitable and inclusive lens to community economic development approaches. She also co-designed the Federal Reserve Bank’s groundbreaking “Racism and the Economy” series with colleagues across the 12 Reserve Banks which amplified how structural racism constrains the overall competitiveness of our economy. She co-authored the Small Businesses of Color Recovery Guide and Navigating a Crisis: An Uneven Recovery for Communities and Organizations in the Southeast.
Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Dr. Williams led economic opportunity initiatives for the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site. While at the Foundation, she administered millions in grants and leveraged significant co-investment. She served as the lead author of Casey’s Changing the Odds reports. Her work has served as a national model to other grant makers looking to operationalize racial equity and inclusion. She also served as a Congressional Fellow in the U.S. House of Representatives, conducting community economic development research. She served as a youth organizer in her native homeland, Trinidad, and Tobago, before immigrating to the United States.
Dr. Williams holds a doctorate in international family and community studies from Clemson University, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Georgia, bachelor’s degrees in psychology and sociology from Florida Memorial University, and attended Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education. She is a fellow for the Association of Black Foundation Executives’ Connecting Leaders program and an alumnus of the Atlanta Leaders for Results Leadership Atlanta Class of 2024, and LEAD Atlanta programs.