Leslie Walden

Vice President Public Affairs & Director Marketing Communications, Fidelity Investments

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Leslie Lillard Walden is Vice President, Public Affairs & Director of Marketing Communications for Fidelity Investments, one of the world’s largest financial services providers. She leads Fidelity’s government relations and community efforts, on behalf more than 15,000 Fidelity associates in the Southeast.

Leslie joined Fidelity in the marketing communications department in Boston, launching new products and services. She later established Fidelity’s public affairs and community relations function in North Carolina and continues to serve on the regional leadership team that has supported the company’s efforts to more than triple its headcount in the state.

Prior to Fidelity, Leslie spent more than decade in public service in local, state and federal government and agencies. She has also developed a side hustle in announcing and voiceovers, since her first part-time job, which was in radio.

In her community, she chairs the Research Triangle Park Charitable Fund as well as the Local Innovation Committee of NC Works. She chairs the NC Business Council for Education and serves on her state chamber’s advisory board for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Leslie also fuels her passion for teacher professional development in financial literacy on the executive committee for the Council for Economic Education. She is also n the boards of her local Y and animal rescue organization. Leslie also serves on her local and regional Economic Development Commissions. She is a Triangle Business Journal Women in Business honoree, a Leadership Triangle Goodmon Fellow and an alum of Leadership North Carolina Class XVII.

Leslie and her husband, realtor husband Jay Walden, live in Chatham County, NC with two college students – as well as the occasional foster dog. In her spare time, you’ll hear her singing Broadway show tunes or see her paddle boarding on the lake or catch her binging Real Housewives of Practically Any City.