Desiree Rogers Will Be White House Social Secretary

Desiree Rogers is expected to be named special assistant to the president.White House social secretary, sources said.Rogers is currently president of social networking for Allstate Financial, a unit of the Northbrook-based insurance firm.In her new job, Rogers would be in charge of social functions at the White House for Barack Obama.

She would be the first black to hold that job.In her current position, Rogers is to build a social network to help Allstate's middle-income customers gain more insight into investing and saving for retirement. She started that job this summer.Rogers, a longtime Obama supporter, previously had been the first female African-American president of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas.