314-399-8812 info@investstl.org

WHO WE ARE

Meet Our Team

 

SHANNON DICKERSON

SHANNON DICKERSON

Neighborhood Solidarity Partner

Shannon serves as the primary liaison and “guide on the side” to our Sustaining Neighborhood Investment Partners in the Dutchtown Neighborhood.

DARA ESKRIDGE

DARA ESKRIDGE

Chief Executive Officer

Dara spends her days advancing our work into new areas, connecting our regional dots to neighborhood transformation, growing our coalition of partners and investors, and dreaming very big.

KENAN ENDER

KENAN ENDER

Operations Director

Kenan helps shape and uphold efficient and effective internal practices and processes that maximize our human, financial, and intellectual assets to the benefit of our mission and achievement of our vision.

LORIN JACKSON

LORIN JACKSON

Collaboration Support Partner

Lorin facilitates harmony between neighborhood anchors, residents, and consultants, investigating challenges to find opportunities, and elevating efforts for optimal impact.

DEREK LANEY

DEREK LANEY

Neighborhood Solidarity Partner

Derek Laney serves as the primary liaison and “guide on the side” to our Sustaining Neighborhood Investment Partners in the West End and Visitation Park Neighborhoods.

LY SYIN LOBSTER

LY SYIN LOBSTER

Executive Support Partner

Ly Syin backs up the team, supporting smooth operations. Assisting others and helping people through sharing information is her life-long passion. Ly Syin is an Invest STL cheerleader and always in our corner.

MICHAEL PAGANO

MICHAEL PAGANO

Narrative + Communications Partner

Michael crafts and shapes our storytelling, working closely with the team to listen for, weave together and raise up the experiences of our neighborhood partners and the people they serve.

ALEXIS WILLIAMS-CAVANAUGH

ALEXIS WILLIAMS-CAVANAUGH

Narrative + Communications Support Partner

Alexis supports our narrative catching, (re)framing, and amplifying efforts, helping shape and share the stories that grow through our work with neighborhood partners and residents.

MICHELLE WITTHAUS

MICHELLE WITTHAUS

Policy Design + Activation Partner

Michelle designs projects that will influence future policymaking with an emphasis on investing in people, not just place.

As our role in the region evolves, our team continues to grow. While there are no open positions at this time, we invite you to check back here for job opportunities and follow us on social media for the lastest updates.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

How we move is core to who we are and what we do.

  • We are motivated by the belief that every person deserves to live in a neighborhood in which they can create the life they want, and we are grounded in the conviction that anything less is unacceptable. 

  • We are guided by an activist spirit while mobilizing institutional resources. 

  • We are committed to rigorous self-examination and transparency about our successes, failures and learning.

  • We are dedicated to untethering the past from what’s possible in the future by refusing to accept the restraints of generations of systemic anti-Black racism.
  • We act with urgency, because the unconfronted injustices of generations of anti-Black systemic racism continue to compound with time. 

  • We elevate lived experience and use evidence-based learning without being bound by it.

  • We acknowledge and address generations of harm created by systemic anti-Black racism, particularly harm created in the name of community development.

  • We measure success in multiple ways that reflect the complexity of this work. 

Board of Directors

Blake Strode

Executive Director
Arch City Defenders

Brian Phillips

Executive Director & Assistant Vice Chancellor
Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation

Henry Webber, Board Chairperson

Principal, Urban Impact Advisors

Karishma Furtado, Secretary

Equity Scholar, Urban Institute; Director of Data and Research, Forward Through Ferguson

Karl Guenther

Assistant Vice Chancellor of Economic & Community Development
University of Missouri-Saint Louis

Loura Gilbert, Treasurer

Retired Vice President of Community Development
Commerce Bank

Nicole Hudson

Assistant Vice-Chancellor
Academy for Diversity & Inclusion, Washington University

Ryan Rippel

‎Senior Project Officer, CEO Initiatives
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Zachary Boyers

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation

people | power | place | systems

Initiating a 20 Year Journey

Every St. Louis neighborhood is a chosen place to live, raise children, and grow old.

Email

call

314-399-8812

VISIT

5600 Delmar Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63112

Mail

PO Box 300010
St. Louis, MO 63130