Compass welcomes new Board Members, Karen Wallace and Heather Wellington
Compass Working Capital is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to our Board of Directors: Karen Wallace of Associated Industries of Massachusetts and Heather Wellington of FD Stonewater.
“Our Board of Directors is a group of dedicated leaders who have committed themselves to ending asset poverty for families with low incomes,” says Markita Morris-Louis, CEO of Compass. “I am excited to welcome Karen and Heather and know that their expertise in marketing and community development, respectively, will be tremendously valuable to advancing our mission.”
Karen Wallace currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Marketing for Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), the Commonwealths’ premier business trade organization. Karen shares, “I couldn’t be prouder to have the opportunity to work with Compass Working Capital, a team of individuals who are so committed to moving women from poverty to prosperity.”
Heather Wellington is Vice President, Development at FD Stonewater, a boutique real estate brokerage investment, development, and asset management firm. “I’m excited to join the Board of Directors for Compass as its mission and core values speak to me personally through the lived experiences of my upbringing. I look forward to serving as a resource to the Compass team as they continue their work to end asset poverty for families with low incomes and to narrow the racial and gender wealth divides. We all have a role in ensuring that equal opportunities are available to all individuals and Compass provides both the education and exposure necessary to change lives in this generation and the next,” Heather writes.
Compass is also grateful to welcome two former Board members to our National Advisory Board: Lidiane Jones, Slack CEO at Salesforce, and Asha Mehta, CFA of Global Delta Capital. We thank Lidiane and Asha for their years of service to our Board of Directors and look forward to their continued support in this new role.
Read more about our newest board members below.
About Karen Wallace
Karen Wallace is an accomplished strategic business leader with experience in the financial services, higher education, arts, and non-profit sectors. She is currently the Executive Vice President of Marketing for Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), the Commonwealths’ premier business trade organization.
Prior to her role at AIM, Karen ran her own marketing consulting firm where she worked with such clients as Northeastern University and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. She also spent 20+ years leading highly effective teams at Fidelity Investments in B2B, B2C, and corporate marketing environments developing business strategy, and executing award winning campaigns. Her last role was Senior Vice President of Communications and Branding.
Karen is personally passionate about all things related to economic inclusion and financial literacy. As a result, in addition to leading AIM’s marketing function, she has a primary role in the operations of AIM’s supplier diversity initiative; AIM Business Connect. She also has run financial literacy programs in the Boston faith-based community.
Karen holds a BS, and MBA, from Simmons University, as well as certificates from Tuck School of Business and MIT Sloan School of Management. She is the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Boston Children’s Chorus, an organization that leverages the power of music to connect diverse communities and inspire social inquiry. She is also a member of the National Black MBA Association and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
About Heather Wellington
Mrs. Heather Wellington is Vice President, Development at FD Stonewater, a boutique real estate brokerage investment, development, and asset management firm. In this role, she provides project management leadership and oversight for development projects nationally.
Mrs. Wellington is an institutional commercial real estate professional with over 15 years of extensive development experience in commercial real estate development and asset management. Her extensive development experience includes overseeing all aspects of the development process, including acquisition, entitlement, design, and construction management, for mixed-use, residential, office, retail, and hotel projects in urban environments. She has managed new construction, base building renovations, and tenant improvements of more than 3 million square feet of space in excess of $750 million.
Mrs. Wellington earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing from The George Washington University and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from The Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Vice Chairwoman of the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency, President of the African American Real Estate Professionals of D.C., and an active member of the Urban Land Institute.
About Compass
Compass Working Capital ("Compass") works to end asset poverty for families with low incomes and narrow the racial and gender wealth divides. Compass partners with affordable housing providers to run the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Family Self-Sufficiency program, the nation's largest asset building program for families with low incomes. Since 2010 Compass has supported 5,000 families to build more than $17 million in savings