Leadership in Cleveland

Toi Comer

Senior Vice President and Executive Director for City Year Cleveland

Toi D. Comer, a native Clevelander, serves as the primary leader of City Year Cleveland as senior vice president and executive director. Comer comes to City Year with more than 15 years of diverse experience in resource development and community relations, strategic planning, management and communications. She began her career at City Year Cleveland in 2011 as development director where she led its fundraising team and efforts to build structures to support the site’s scaled impact growth plan. Eventually, Comer was promoted to managing director of development for the site. During Toi’s tenure, she more than tripled the size of the development team as the site’s revenue continued to increase annually. Toi played a pivotal role in the site cultivating a 95 percent donor conversation rate.

Prior to coming to City Year Cleveland, she served as the development director for Eliza Bryant Village, a nonprofit that provides services and outreach programs to seniors. Thereafter she spent several years serving as the resource development manager of the United Way of Greater Cleveland, where she oversaw the Small Business and Healthcare division team that raised over $15 million for various programs. Previously, Comer served as the assistant area development director for the United Negro College Fund of Northeast Ohio, where she raised over $1 million towards scholarships/grants for African American youth seeking to go to college.

She serves on the boards of the Black Professionals Association Charitable Foundation and the Near West Theater. Comer is a member of Leadership Cleveland’s class of 2022 and a Crain’s Cleveland Business Women of Note recipient, Class of 2019. She is an alumna of the Cleveland Bridge Builders Class of 2015 and the City Year Executive Leadership Program Class of 2015. Comer holds a Master of Public Administration degree with a specialty in management from Cleveland State University’s (CSU) Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from CSU.