Desiree Rogers

Ebony, Oct, 2008 by Adrienne P. Samuels

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Some people were born to be in charge. Desiree Rogers, a few months into her new job with Allstate Financial, is one of them. She is president of social networking at the financial division of Allstate Insurance, responsible for creating a system where regular people can discuss retirement options and finances with experts and other Allstate customers.

The system is not available yet, but Rogers' crew should be close to perfecting a prototype of the network. It could potentially be like Facebook or Linked In, but it's too early to tell. What she does know is that it will help customers plan for their all-important retirement years.

"Many people don't have funds available to hire a financial planner," says Rogers, 49, of Chicago and the former president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas. "They feel the information coming to them may be a little more complicated than they would like. We'll be working on creating a forum where people can ask. [Where] every question is a smart question."

* So you own hundreds of biographies? "I have a huge biography collection. I think you can learn a little bit from everybody. I'm probably lighter on the businesspeople. I like to read about areas I'm not in."