Melissa Donaldson, Wintrust’s new chief diversity officer

Wintrust Financial Corporation has hired Melissa Donaldson to serve as the company’s chief diversity officer. In that role, she will work with senior leadership company-wide to drive diversity and inclusion priorities, including initiatives aimed at increasing diversity in leadership pipeline development, marketplace reach and community engagement. She will also manage partnerships to enhance various talent initiatives and work with business units to reinforce inclusive approaches to addressing talent needs and marketplace opportunities in order to drive business success.

Donaldson was most recently at Walgreens as director of diversity networks and communication, and prior to that role, she was with CDW as its first-ever director of inclusion practices. Her work has also been published in Profiles in Diversity Journal, Diversity Executive and Workforce Management magazines and shared in a number of industry outlets, and she was named to Women Worth Watching by Profiles in Diversity Journal in 2008.