AJ Barkley is the Neighborhood and Community Lending Executive at Bank of America, where she identifies opportunities to drive responsible lending among low- and moderate-income borrowers, underserved communities, and multicultural borrowers across the economic spectrum.  In her role, she is accountable for the end to end process, strategy through execution, for the company’s Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) commitment and fair lending laws and regulations for home loans, small business, and vehicle lending. She is also responsible for relationship deepening with multicultural, first-time homebuyers and low- and moderate-income consumers through strategic alignment with nonprofits, community advocacy groups, real estate professional organizations including homebuilders, and other key industry leaders.   
   
Most recently, AJ served as the bank’s interim Retail Sales East Executive, leading an organization of more than 2,000 employees who assist the bank’s Retail, Preferred and Global Wealth Management clients with their borrowing and banking needs, including mortgage, home equity, credit card, deposit and checking accounts. She also led the National Sales Operations and Optimization organization for Retail Sales, focusing on driving strategic initiatives.   
  
Additionally, AJ was the Production Executive for the Plano Centralized and Online Consumer Lending Sales Division, where she led more than 140 lending officers and had national responsibility for employee lending, training redesign and employee engagement. She also was the Merrill Lynch Associate Market Executive in Global Wealth Investments Management in Dallas, TX, and held multiple roles in Consumer Banking, including Area Executive for the DFW Metro Market, encompassing more than 140 Financial Centers.   
   
A native of Temple Hills, Maryland, AJ is a graduate of Morgan State University.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.    
   
AJ is the Co-Executive Sponsor of the Black Professional Group of North Texas and active in multiple employee networks.  She is committed to supporting the community and serves on the nonprofit board for Trinity Park Conservancy. Her passion is supporting organizations that empower and improve opportunities for children and young adults.   She and her husband have two sons, three daughters and four grandchildren.