New executive director leads the Hope Commission

Tamera Fair is the new executive director of the Hope Commission in Wilmington.

Fair comes with an extensive resume including associations with organizations committed to public service. 

“I always knew I wanted to do something to give back to the community once I completed my corporate career,” said Fair, who sits on several boards including Delaware Hospice and African American Empowerment Fund. 

Fair spent most of her professional life on the corporate side as an attorney and managing a number of teams and positions at Xerox, DuPont and Chemours. She said her legal background will be an asset to advocacy work at Wilmington’s Hope Commission.

“One of the things you learn from being an attorney is patience, which I believe is transferable, perseverance and strategic thinking,” said Fair who looks forward to building upon the strong foundation of the Commission. 

The Hope Commission is known for its work addressing crime and helping offenders transition back into society through its Achievement Center on Vandever Avenue. Fair replaces previous executive director Charles Madden who led the Hope Commission since being appointed by then-Mayor James Baker in 2008.

Althouh Fair has been in her new position for less than a month, she held her first board meeting this week, and opened up about how the job is going.

“What I’m looking at is actually doing an assessment of the Hope Commission.  I need to understand naturally what are the things that are working well, what are the things that are not, and what are the areas of growth for the Hope Commission,” she said.