Sonja Sanders Wells

Sonja Sanders Wells is the Executive Vice President and Sr. Director of Loan Syndications and Market Expansion for City First Bank. She has over three decades of experience in commercial lending with a track record of achieving exceptional results. She oversees the bank’s $400 million East Coast loan portfolio. She is an expert in customizing commercial credit facilities specific to client needs and industry segments, including leverage and leverage source loans in NMTC transactions.

Sonja is a member of the Executive Management team and is responsible for the strategic direction of the East Coast Commercial Banking Group. She is the bank’s brand ambassador and maintains relationships with industry influencers and key community and strategic partners to expand and enhance City First Bank’s reputation in the marketplace.

City First is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) founded in Washington, DC, twenty-five years ago to serve low to moderate-income communities in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Pennsylvania in direct response to the systemic disinvestment in our most vulnerable communities. City First has deployed over $1.3 billion in mission-critical capital to Affordable Housing Developers and Investors, Nonprofits, Charter Schools, Community Facilities, and Small Businesses. City First collaborates with a community of local leaders, a dedicated network of CDFIs, B-Corps, and a Global Alliance of Banks whose values align with sustainable frontline solutions to support our communities’ financial health, well-being, and equitable prosperity.

Prior to joining City First Bank, Sonja was a Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager at M&T. In her Commercial Banking and Real Estate career, Sonja was a Shopping Center Leasing Executive for the Taubman Company in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and a Marketing Executive for the Rouse Company in Columbia, Maryland.

Sonja is a member of the DC Chamber of Commerce, Jubilee Baltimore, Inc. (Vice President), the African American Real Estate Professionals, the Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund, the Southeast Community Development Corporation, DC Wildflower Public Charter School (Treasurer), and FSC First’s Board of Directors. Sonja is active in several professional and community organizations throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia and represents the bank on the DC Bankers Association Advocacy Committee.

Sonja is the Immediate Past Chair of the Board of Directors for the Baltimore City Community College Foundation and was formerly the Vice President of the Butcher’s Hill Neighborhood Association’s Executive Board, member of the loan committee for Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development’s Neighborhood Business Works program, the United Way of Central Maryland’s Marketing Committee, Howard County Hospital’s Marketing Committee, the Columbia Association’s Marketing Committee, and numerous other philanthropic and community organizations.

Sonja is a graduate of Boise State University with extensive certifications, training, and experience in Commercial Banking and Real Estate, Marketing, Retail Management, and Buying.

Sonja and her husband of 28 years reside in the District of Columbia. Her husband, Ernest N. Wells, Jr., is the Branch Engineer for the Strategic Systems Program for the U.S. Department of the Navy in Washington, DC.