Career fundraiser talks about her role at Dallas EDC

Upon moving to the M Streets from New York City last year, Tricia Radford Roark recalled someone telling her, “If you invest in Dallas, Dallas will invest in you.”

Since then, Roark has worked on holding up her end of the bargain. Her efforts landed her a job as investor relations director at the City of Dallas Economic Development Corporation (EDC). The nonprofit was created in 2022 to aid economic growth and vitality, especially in the southern parts of the city, plus other underdeveloped areas.

Roark grew up in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and her upbringing there influenced her view on community involvement.

“My mom was a teacher, and my dad was a small business owner, but even now, they’re still very active in every different type of organization,” she says. “I do want to give back, and I do want to be a part of my community.”

Roark knew she wanted a career that allowed her to “make a difference.” She majored in leadership studies in undergrad at the University of Richmond and then moved to New York and worked for a textile design and manufacturing business after graduating.

“It was a fantastic company, but even in that first year out of school, I had that aching of, ‘Gosh, I love what I’m doing, but I really am missing the part that fills my cup to say does this really matter?’” Roark says.

“I think that is a little high minded, maybe, of a 22-year-old, but you can tell it’s like that itch got to me right away.”

After moving to D.C., she picked up a job working for Kentucky Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers. Then, she stepped into a position working at the Department of Commerce during the tail end of George W. Bush’s presidency.

“Those years, to me, are invaluable,” she says. “It’s really important, the policies and the decisions that are made in D.C., and they impact our lives every day in 100 different ways.”

Roark went on to earn a Master of Busi- ness Administration degree from Babson College in Massachusetts to learn more about economics. Then, she worked with a company that helped nonprofits raise money and strategize.

“I did that for a number of years and really fell in love with fundraising and knowing that the impact you bring to an organization really can expand, really has ripple effects,” she says.

This experience propelled Roark into working at The Michael J. Fox Foundation, where she strategized to secure funding for Parkinson’s disease research. Ironically, she initially covered fundraising in the Southwest a decade before moving to Dallas.

“It was a joy to tell the story of the foundation on a day-to-day basis and share that, ‘Here’s the impact of every donor dollar,’” she says. “I loved learning, really, to effectively air story-telling with measurable results and working with families who are dealing with Parkinson’s disease. That’s obviously a challenging universe to navigate, and so to be able to bring joy and promise to them around, ‘Here’s the progress that’s happening in Parkinson’s research,’ was something I really, really enjoyed.”

And yes, she did get to work with Fox.

“He’s really as wonderful as you would think and hope,” Roark says. “One of my favorite parts about watching him, whether he’s meeting with donors or whether he’s speaking at events, is how authentic he is. He truly has a fantastic sense of humor.”

From the late 2010s to now, Roark con- tinued to take jobs fundraising for various organizations. When she came to Dallas, she found that the Dallas EDC’s mission was right up her alley.

“I was immediately drawn to the mission of the Dallas EDC’s work around attracting investment, supporting businesses, telling Dallas’ story to the world,” she says. Roark was hired alongside Communications Director Paul von Wupperfeld, who also brought a lot of experience to his role.

“Tricia and Paul are outstanding additions to our organization,” Dallas EDC CEO Linda McMahon said in a press release. “They have extensive experience and strong connections within the Dallas business community. Their commitment is to ensure that Dallas is the epicenter of business opportunities for existing businesses as well as new businesses that are drawn here due to our welcoming business climate.”

Like her other positions, Roark’s job is to focus on funding the nonprofit’s initiatives.

“We’re going to need revenue to do our business, to help engage business investors, to help steward the companies that are already in Dallas, make sure that they have what they need to thrive and be successful, and also to help prop up institutions and organizations that will support businesses that are already here and that we want to recruit and grow,” she says.

Upon starting this position in August, Roark said expanding the investor base and creating a way to clearly measure impact would be important for the EDC moving forward.

“An obvious benchmark will be how many jobs do we have in Dallas,” Roark says. “How many jobs do we have that are fulfilling and are providing a living wage and creating an opportunity for families to grow, for young people who are coming out of school to be successful, to start their careers?”