Our Team

presley@neighborhoodallies.org
412-471-3727 x213

Presley L. Gillespie is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Neighborhood Allies, a multifaceted community development intermediary engaging Pittsburgh area residents and organizations with innovative tools that expand opportunity for transformative community change. He has ultimate responsibility for the overall management of the organization including, but not limited to, operations, fundraising, financial management, hiring and personnel management, board and external relations, vendor management, grant making and strategic investments, and program evaluation.

Since taking the helm, Presley has been elevating Neighborhood Allies’ value as a trusted community development partner that is unlike any other organization in Pittsburgh, serving as an investor, thought leader, and catalyst for innovative approaches in order to solve challenges in under-resourced neighborhoods. He has injected new energy into the local community development system, and has built a forward-thinking, solutions-oriented community development organization that brings hope, fresh ideas, expertise, and resources to distressed and transitional neighborhoods.

Under Presley’s leadership the organization has grown by more than 300%, from an annual budget of $2.1 million, with $4 million in assets, to a dynamic entity and an annual budget of over $7 million, with $17 million in assets. Additional accomplishments include:

• Launching the first of its kind, Centralized Real Estate Accelerator, a revolutionary community-based real estate development initiative, designed to accelerate, scale, and sustain a more strategic, effective, and equitable real estate system in Pittsburgh;
• Creating five multi-sector, multi-disciplinary networks to support and build greater alignment, capacity and performance in the community investment system;
• Increasing and diversifying revenue sources from four funding sources to more than 45 funders, including securing a permanent Endowment Fund.

Presley’s background spans corporate and nonprofit leadership. He is a nationally recognized leader in the field of community and economic development and was most recently the founding Executive Director of the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC), the first city-wide community development corporation in Youngstown, OH. Presley came to the non-profit sector after a successful 18 year banking career, primarily focused on community development lending and community revitalization. Previously, he served as Vice President for KeyBank where he was responsible for identifying, structuring, and closing community development/commercial real estate loans that ultimately led to the creation of affordable housing, economic development, and job creation.

His prior banking experience includes being Vice President of Middle Market Commercial Banking for a $15 billion banking institution where he managed a $50 million commercial lending portfolio. Prior to that assignment he was Vice President, Community Development Manager for a $2 billion banking institution, where he managed the community development banking division. In that role, he led the corporation’s business development efforts related to affordable housing, commercial real estate in urban markets, and community investments. Presley has structured more than $60 million in community development lending, including real estate developers, non-profit corporations, and corporate banking clients.

Presley serves on numerous boards locally and nationally, including the Board of Directors of Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania and the KeyBank National Advisory Council for the National Community Benefits Plan. In 2015 Presley was selected by Mayor William Peduto as a Daniel Rose Fellow with the Rose Center for Public Leadership, a fellowship established to encourage and support excellence in land use decision making by local governments. In 2017 Presley received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Youngstown State University and was selected by the Smart 50 Awards which recognizes the top executives of the 50 smartest companies in the Greater Pittsburgh region.

Presley holds a B.A. in Organizational Communication and Management from Youngstown State University. He resided for 18 years in Youngstown, Ohio with his wife Nora and their two children, and relocated to Pittsburgh in 2014.