Director of Community Engagement
William Blair
Nancy Bonges serves as Director of Community Engagement, leading the strategy, impact, and evolution of William Blair’s global philanthropy initiatives. She externally champions William Blair’s culture of philanthropic commitment and serves as an in-house expert to motivate, recognize, and celebrate employee engagement.
Before joining William Blair, Nancy was Program Officer for The Allstate Foundation’s racial equity philanthropic pillar. Working with company leaders and external community partners, she formed a strategy to invest in programs advancing racial equity. She also held roles overseeing the foundation’s thought leadership, data analytics, and social impact measurement frameworks to inform program investments, measure success, and showcase community involvement results.
Nancy also served as Community Relations Manager for CME Group in Chicago. While there, she designed and executed the company’s global corporate citizenship strategy, including managing contributions, employee volunteerism, and giving and disaster response. Nancy’s career began in higher education admissions and expanded into business development in financial services. She also led the University of Michigan’s Project Lighthouse, a program that promoted higher education among underserved high school students in inner-city Detroit.
Nancy has a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Michigan, an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School Management, and a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing and Communications from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. Nancy is an avid global volunteer. She’s completed community service projects in Singapore, Indonesia, India, Peru and Guinea. In her free time, Nancy enjoys exploring “hole in the wall” ethnic restaurants and hosting game nights with friends. Nancy lives in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood with her husband, Matt, and two children, Mila and Eli.
