T.D. Jakes Foundation announces new CEO, veteran DEI executive Kelley Cornish

One of the region’s most prominent megachurch’s workforce development and community arm, the T.D. Jakes Foundation, announced Wednesday a new leader to take the helm.

A veteran in corporate diversity, inclusion and equity, Kelley Cornish will take on the role of the foundation’s CEO. Cornish’s latest stint was as the executive vice president and chief administrative officer of diversity at Wells Fargo & Company, the bank that Jakes’ umbrella group, comprising his multiple enterprises, joined forces with last month.

Wells Fargo said it could give as much as $1 billion in capital and financing to the effort, as well as grants from the Wells Fargo Foundation.

Leading the T.D Jakes Foundation will be the culmination of work Cornish has done for decades in her career, she said, working toward empowering communities that are burdened by systemic barriers.

“We want to become a think tank for answers to the issues that have impacted wealth, home ownership, financial literacy, women in corporate America and more,” Cornish said. The foundation intends to roll out new programs this year geared toward those priorities including supporting businesses and career development for historically marginalized people.

Visions of the brain trust include research and devising innovative solutions for the nation’s most pressing issues surrounding diversity and equity, the foundation said in a statement.

Cornish will succeed Hattie Hill, who retired from her post as president and CEO of the foundation at the end of March.

Jakes, the namesake and chairman of the group, said that bringing Cornish in is a strategic and advantageous relationship to help progress the foundation’s efforts.

“We have complete synergy in our visions to uplift communities, and Kelley has the knowledge and experience to bring together corporate and community partners to impact people and transform lives,” Jakes said.

Previously Cornish held executive diversity roles for TD Bank Group and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Before she became an executive at Wells Fargo, Cornish, who joined the bank in 2019, held several roles within the company leading enterprise diversity strategies globally.

The money the foundation will see from Wells Fargo will first go toward Jakes’ most recent real estate venture outside of Atlanta. Last year, Jakes’ real estate group began purchasing nearly 100 acres of Fort McPherson, a historic former army base, with plans to create a mixed-use community.

The Wells Fargo Foundation and T.D. Jakes Foundation also plan to invest capital into low-and moderate-income communities to increase homeownership and create businesses in several cities including Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas.

The union between the bank and the iconic Black pastor comes after several discrimination and labor violation settlements in the last decade that challenged the bank’s reputation with historically marginalized groups.

In 2012, Wells Fargo agreed to pay a $184 million settlement to homeowners after customers alleged the bank discriminated against qualified Black and Latino borrowers in its mortgage lending from 2004 through 2009.

More recently, the bank agreed to pay $7.8 million in back wages and interest to resolve allegations of hiring discrimination in 2020, after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs alleged Wells Fargo discriminated against more than 34,000 African-American applicants and hundreds of female candidates.