Assistant Vice President, South Texas CRA Manager Corporate Public Affairs & Community Reinvestment, Comerica Bank
Vanessa Reed is Assistant Vice President and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Manager of programs for Comerica Bank – South Texas. Reed is responsible for community development and involvement for Comerica Bank for Houston, San Antonio and Kerrville. Her priorities include affordable housing, education including financial literacy, small business development, job training and neighborhood revitalization programs for low-to-moderate income individuals and communities.
Reed joined Comerica Bank in 2000. She earned five Comerica ROAR awards for her outstanding achievement and results as a credit specialist for the commercial real estate department.
Prior to joining Comerica Bank, Reed worked as the office accountant for The Ellis Roofing Company, the largest African American owned roofing company in the southern sector. She also worked for the former First National Bank of Commerce in New Orleans.
A graduate of University of New Orleans, Reed holds a bachelor’s degree in business management with a concentration in accounting.
Her civic and community involvement includes serving on the board of directors for the Change Happens! and Greater Houston Black Chamber (formerly Houston Citizens Chamber of Commerce). She is actively involved in the community through service and volunteer initiatives with the Texas Women’s Empowerment Foundation (TWEF), FDIC’s Alliance for Economic Inclusion, and Houston Money Week.
Honors and recognitions include Rolling Out’s Top 25 Most Influential Women in Houston in 2007 and Who’s Who in Black Houston (2007 – 2013), Texas Women’s Empowerment Foundation 2011 Volunteer Award, Honey Brown Hope Foundation’s Citizens Improving America Award and HCCC 2011 Outstanding Board Member of the Year and 2012 YMCA Minority Achievers Award. Reed is a member of the National Association of Professional Women.
Reed’s hobbies include spending time with family and friends, reading, gardening, traveling, and shopping. Reed is inspired by everyday women who are making a difference in their homes and community. In her role as a community development officer for the bank, she meets women that are doing incredible things. Many of those women are unsung heroes quietly making an impact in their village. They are educating our children by building their minds and exposing them to opportunities that will forever shape their futures. They wear many titles: wives, mothers, grandmothers, civic and business leaders and CEOs.
Reed, also an active member of The Fort Bend Church, serves on the Accounting Team. She is the wife of Kevin J. Reed and mother of Jordan Nicole and Parker James Reed, ages 12 and 8, respectively.
One of Reed’s favorite quotes is from the Bible and it speaks to fulfilling your purpose in life. Philippians 1:6 says “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you [me] will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.” In essence, I can be confident in the work that He is doing in and through me that it will be completed. This was empowering for me. Whenever I am faced with an impossible challenge, I am reminded that He is really doing the work. I am just the vessel. Success will come because there is no failure in Him.
