Celebrating 13 Years with WESST: Melissa Williams' New Role

By WESST | July 15, 2026

WESST's longest serving employee, Melissa Williams, was recently promoted to Director of Lending. Melissa first joined WESST in 2013 as a Loan Fund Administrator and has been an integral member of both the WESST team and Lending department ever since. In 2025, WESST closed out the year distributing over $1,000,000 in loans to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Through the Credit Builders Alliance (CBA), Melissa is a certified Master Trainer and is credentialed to provide their nationally recognized Credit as an Asset training. From 2015-2020, she delivered training to financial coaches, counselors, non-profit lenders, and other financial practitioners, equipping them with the skills to integrate credit building into programs and services.

When asked about memorable WESST highlights over the years, Melissa said, "Seeing clients succeed has been the most rewarding part of what I do." Her expertise in credit has helped clients with invisible credit (i.e. no credit history with the major credit bureaus) or limited credit history focus on understanding credit reports and debt management.  Solomon Gbara, a young client Melissa worked with last year, described her as "thorough and patient" and that her enjoyment in this work was reflected in the quality of guidance she provided.

Since 2013, Melissa has seen WESST evolve in many ways, including shifting the types of services and delivery of programs we provide – all shaped by our clients' needs and funding opportunities. We are proud to support Melissa as she continues to learn and grow with WESST!