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Desirée Rogers was born on June 16, 1959 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Rogers graduated from the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans in 1977. She earned a Bachelor's degree in political science from Wellesley College in 1981. Rogers earned a MBA from Harvard Business School in 1985.
From the start of her career, Rogers experienced tremendous success. In 1990, Rogers was appointed by Republican Governor Jim Edgar, to run the Illinois State Lottery, a $2 billion state agency. She led the agency until 1997. During her tenure, Rogers worked extensively with over 8000 retailers to increase the sale of instant ticket products from 300 million to over 600 million. Rogers attended the 1992 Republican National Convention as an alternate delegate.
Beginning in 1997, Rogers worked as vice-president of corporate communications for Peoples Energy (PE), which is now a natural gas subsidiary of the Integrys Energy Group. In 2000 she was promoted to Chief Marketing Officer, then to Senior Vice President of Customer Service. She advanced to Vice President of Corporate Communications. In September 2001, she became senior vice-president of the overall corporation and its utility subsidiaries.
In late 1999 Rogers and three other minority women quit the board of the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art to protest what they regarded as a slow pace on diversity issues. They were the only female minority members among the museum's 63 trustees.
In 2003 Rogers was named to the board of Equity Residential, a $15 billion residential real estate investment trust (REIT).
In 2002, Rogers attended the Harvard Kennedy School Women and Power Program. This program was designed for senior women executives, particularly private sector executives who have demonstrated an interest in public leadership.
In July 2004 Rogers was selected as president of both Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, the two utility subsidiaries of PE. She was the first female African-American to hold those posts. It was a time when the company faced major challenges, implementing an overall restructuring of critical business functions to meet financial targets while increasing customer satisfaction. As PEs president, Rogers improved response times at the customer service center, converted paper records of inspection results to an electronic system, and eliminated a massive backlog of home gas meter inspections.
In April 2006, the Illinois Commerce Commission launched an investigation to see if employees falsified safety reports on some of its gas pipes. State inspectors found that about 40% of the pipes had inadequate corrosion protection. More seriously, at about 10% of the locations where PE had provided positive test results, the inspectors could not find any monitoring equipment to take a reading, raising questions about whether false results had been recorded. Rogers determined the extent of the corrosion-testing problems, installed a new training and auditing regimen, and hired quality-control employees to check compliance work. To date, no leaks have been found.
In July 2008 Rogers joined Allstate Financial, a business unit of The Allstate Corporation, to run a new social networking initiative of the company. The initiative would connect middle-market consumers with other like-minded consumers of the enterprise. She became a member of Allstate Financial's Executive Committee.
Rogers serves on a number of Chicago area boards. She is the Vice-Chairman of the Lincoln Park Zoo. She also is on the executive committee of The Museum of Science and Industry. She is on the boards of The Chicago Children’s Museum, The Young President’s Organization, The Commercial Club of Chicago and The Chicago Network.
Black Enterprise has named her one of the 50 most powerful Black women in business several times. She has also been featured in Vogue Magazine.
On January 20, 2009 Rogers assumed her appointed position as the White House Social Secretary. Rogers is the first African-American to hold the position.
Rogers said her goal was “to create an environment of inclusiveness so that all Americans feel like the White House is their home.”
Watch her CNN interview about her position below:
Rogers serves on a number of Chicago area boards. She is the Vice-Chairman of the Lincoln Park Zoo. She also is on the executive committee of 
The Museum of Science and Industry. She is on the boards of The Chicago Children’s Museum, The Young President’s Organization, The Commercial Club of Chicago and The Chicago Network.
Black Enterprise has named her one of the 50 most powerful Black women in business several times. She has also been featured in Vogue Magazine.
On February 26, the White House announced Rogers' resignation. Below is President Obama and the First Lady's statement about Desiree Rogers:
“We are enormously grateful to Desiree Rogers for the terrific job she’s done as the White House Social Secretary. When she took this position, we asked Desiree to help make sure that the White House truly is the People’s House, and she did that by welcoming scores of everyday Americans through its doors, from wounded warriors to local schoolchildren to NASCAR drivers. She organized hundreds of fun and creative events during her time here, and we will miss her. We thank her again for her service and wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”
Rogers will be replaced by Juliana Smoot. We wish Rogers the best in her new endeavors.
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