Valeria G. Wells

Chief Development Officer

With a proven capacity to effectively cultivate C-level and key decision maker relationships to achieve maximum success of organizational fund development goals, Valeria G. Wells is a seasoned development executive with a notable record of targeting fundraising, marketing communications, board and resource development, and special events production for non-profit organizations. Her portfolio of experience has encompassed the gamut of fund development from executing strategies to secure private and institutional giving to developing organizational marketing programs that maximize brand recognition. The aggregate of all of her experience extends itself to creating the consummate development executive.

Over the years, Wells has amassed a diversity of experiences that has all contributed to her success and has proven her leadership capacity. As a Regional Director at Jack and Jill of America, Inc. Wells oversaw a $1.2M annual budget while managing operations for 55 affiliate chapters. She also accomplished annual goals as Director of Development and Communications at Family ReEntry where her efforts designing the marketing communications strategy for this $3.7M organization secured more than $950K in pledges, major and individual gifts, corporate and private foundation grants, and special events, representing a 25 percent revenue increase within one year. Other development roles include serving as Marketing Communications and Development Director for the Boys and Girls Club of Stamford, serving as Corporate Sponsorship and Event Director at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund of New York City, and as Fund Development and Event Consultant at AMISTAD America.

With an impressive portfolio, Wells could easily attribute her success and ability to navigate and move into the Sr. Executive Leadership Team of INROADS to her experience in the INROADS Process.  INROADS, a national non-profit organization recognized for it’s over 40-year history of cultivating and developing talented underserved students for business success in corporate America. As a college student, Wells successfully graduated from the INROADS Internship process to eventually serve as Sponsorship Manager and Event Director for the organization. Within this role, she instituted a sponsorship program that generated multiple funding sources in corporate underwriting in its inaugural year and created marketing and fund development campaigns for events in Chicago, Dallas, New York, New Jersey, Hartford, and St. Louis affiliates that were subsequently adopted at the national level. 

Wells returns to INROADS as Chief Development Officer bringing years of fund development success to advance the organization’s strategic development vision. This, with the end goal of increasing the number of internships and career opportunities afforded to INROADS Interns and Alumni.

Wells graduated with a B.S. degree in Business Administration and Management from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Her professional affiliations include Guild President and Board Secretary of the Urban League of Southern Connecticut, and former Board Member of the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, among others. She has also been featured as a Connecticut entrepreneur in the Hartford Courant, Stamford Advocate, and Greenwich Timesand has been a guest lecturer of Major Gifts and Cultivation at Fairfield University. Ms. Wells has two daughters, Carla and Monica. She is resides in Stamford, Connecticut with her husband, and the family dog, Mac.