Assistant Professor, Business
Office: Miller Hall 223
Education
- Master of Business Administration at Saint Louis University
- Bachelor of Arts, Economics, at Calvin University
Professional Experience
Neely is the co-founder and CEO of DISTILL—a specialized advisory service for executive leaders and board directors on matters of the consumer economy. Prior to launching DISTILL, Neely worked for 20+ years on Wall Street covering the consumer sector where she advised institutional and private equity investors in their investment decisions. During her career, Neely led the consumer research practice as a managing director at Piper Jaffray (now Piper Sandler). Key career awards include top sell-side analyst in The Wall Street Journal Best on the Street analyst survey in 2006 and 2011 for coverage in broadline and apparel retailers. In 2007, Neely was named by Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal as a 40 Under Forty award winner. A frequent keynote speaker on matters of the consumer economy, Neely was honored to be included in the 2020 lineup of speakers for TEDxMinneapolis where she shared her ideas about “The Greying of the U.S. Economy.”
About
As a family, Neely and her husband, Steve, care deeply about art and education. Steve teaches middle school art at Minnehaha Academy and Neely serves as a board director for each Highpoint Center for Printmaking and AdoptAClassroom.org. Their hilarious son, Samuel, however, prefers boxing over art or education. She believes Christians are called into all areas of occupation because work is good and we are God’s good work (Genesis 2:15, Philippians 1:6).