Wendi Valenti

Wendi Valenti has a diverse work experience spanning multiple roles and industries.

Wendi'smost recent position was as the Director of Alumni Engagement & Annual Giving at Fontbonne University, where they cultivated new donors, engaged existing supporters, and promoted benefactors through innovative alumni engagement and development programs. Wendi supervised a team of up to eight employees, graduate assistants, and student workers, and ran three large fundraising campaigns annually.

Before that, Valenti worked as the Assistant Director of Development at Fontbonne University, implementing three annual giving campaigns and leading the development and cultivation of new donors through targeted appeals.

Prior to their time at Fontbonne University, Valenti served as the Executive Director at the Collinsville Chamber of Commerce. In this role, they directed staff, collaborated with the Board of Directors on strategic planning and budgeting, and supervised volunteers to produce large-scale festivals and projects that generated over $500,000 annually for local charities.

Valenti also worked at the Portland Business Alliance as a Research Manager, where they implemented economic development research studies, created custom reports for site selectors, and tracked and marketed available commercial real estate in the downtown business district.

Earlier in their career, Valenti was a Research Coordinator at Downtown STL, Inc., where they played a vital role in implementing economic development research projects, including data collection and analysis of the downtown business district in St. Louis.

Overall, Valenti's work experience showcases their expertise in alumni engagement, annual giving, fundraising, strategic planning, budgeting, event management, economic development research, and data analysis.

Wendi Valenti earned a Graduate Certificate of Applied Business Analytics from Fontbonne University from 2021 to 2023. Prior to that, they obtained a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Western Governors University between 2015 and 2017. Wendi holds a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology of Employment Relations, with a minor in Business Administration, from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, earned from 1995 to 1999. Wendi Valenti completed their high school education at Collinsville High School from 1990 to 1994. In terms of additional certifications, they obtained a Google Data Analytics Specialization from Coursera in 2021, and a Fundamentals of Legal Studies certification from Northeastern University in 2019. Finally, they have achieved various certifications related to sales, workplace bullying, time management, accounting, and chamber executive accreditation between 2014 and 2017 from institutions such as Lynda.com and the Illinois Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.