Des Allen serves as Director of Strategy for the Boston Fed’s Regional & Community Outreach team. Des works with a dynamic group of experts to shape a portfolio of initiatives that will change the systems that have historically excluded low- and moderate-income communities from economic participation and mobility. Des is directly advancing three areas of work: closing the racial wealth gap and transforming the narrative on race, improving job quality for low- and moderate-income workers, and elevating the accessibility, availability, and affordability of child care as a priority for working parents.

Prior to joining the Boston Fed, Des worked for the international strategy consulting firm Dalberg Advisors, where she informed strategies for multi-national corporations, global foundations, multi-lateral development finance institutions, and national governments. Her work spanned a number of sectors and focused primarily on advancing transformational economic growth in Africa, where she lived in Johannesburg and Dakar. Prior to Dalberg, she worked with the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, to inform programs to improve the business-enabling environments in conflict-affected states.

Des holds a BA from Stanford University and an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School.