COCA Announces Alumnus Will Bonfiglio As New Director Of COCAbiz

COCA-Center of Creative Arts announced that Will Bonfiglio will join its leadership team as Director of COCAbiz on June 10.

COCAbiz is COCA's arts-based training division for the business community. Utilizing the tools and practices from the arts - design thinking, improvisation and storytelling - COCAbiz helps illuminate business challenges and build the skills to meet them.

COCAbiz has served more than 4,500 business leaders at more than 350 companies and organizations, including Ameren, Bayer, BJC HealthCare, The Brown School at Washington University, Centene Corporation, Commerce Bank, FOCUS St. Louis, LaunchCode, Saint Louis University, TEDx Gateway Arch, and many others.

The Director of COCAbiz is a key member of the COCA leadership team, and this hire comes at a critical time as the organization works to complete the $45 million Create Our Future Campaign, which will expand its facility and its impact across the region.

In this position, Bonfiglio will both manage client relationships as well as oversee the continued development of the COCAbiz program portfolio.

In addition to his background in management and organizational development, Bonfiglio is an award-winning professional actor and a COCA alumnus.

"Will's unique combination of business, arts education, and performing experience make him an amazing fit for this role," said Kelly Pollock, COCA Executive Director. "His personal experience as a COCA student and the institutional knowledge that he brings as a COCA alum, make us incredibly excited to welcome him to the team."

Steve Knight, who has been Director of COCA for the past eight years and has shepherded the program's growth and evolution since its infancy, will remain on board to facilitate COCAbiz engagements under Will's leadership.

Bonfiglio will graduate later this year with an MA in Nonprofit Management with a Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management from Washington University in St. Louis. He also earned an MBA from the Smartly Institute in Washington, D.C., a BA in Organizational Development and Theatre, with a Spanish minor, from Vanderbilt University, and was a Fulbright Fellow