Executive Director, Rural Upstate CDFI

For one of the three largest national Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)

• an “Executive Director“, to re-launch a third community development presence in a long underserved rural area of the state.  A previous Executive Director had not been successful and the local community was understandably skeptical regarding the organization’s long term commitment to the economically distressed region. Preference for a candidate who had been born and raised in the community seemed to all but eliminate candidates who had previous CDFI experience.
• The successful candidate was not only from the area but reflected the demographics and was reporting remotely to a CDFI in another part of the state. While the successful candidate did not have the ideal lending or affordable housing finance background, their experience in  nonprofit fundraising combined with strong relationships in the banking community proved to be even more valuable. Undervalued in their previous role, they hit the ground running bringing over one million in funding to the organization.