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Neda Arabshahi
Neda Arabshahi is Director of the Inclusiv Center for Resiliency and Clean Energy. In this capacity, she is working to build a network of credit unions committed to designing and scaling solutions to climate change, with a goal of promoting affordable and sustainable energy for all people. Neda has over 17 years experience in the clean energy and sustainability space. Most recently she served as Chief Operating Officer at the energy startups Radiator Labs and BlocPower, where she helped to create financing and access to clean energy and energy efficiency retrofits for low- and moderate-income building owners.
Bill Bynum
Bill Bynum is the CEO of HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation, Hope Credit Union and Hope Policy Institute). For over three decades, Bill Bynum has worked to advance economic opportunity for disenfranchised populations. In 1994, Bill moved to Mississippi to become the founding CEO of the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, and in 1995 organized Hope Community Credit Union. HOPE has generated more than $2 billion in financing benefiting more than one million people in the nation’s most impoverished regions.
Ahmed Campbell
Ahmed Campbell is Inclusiv's Director of Lending Development. With more than 30 years in the Credit Union industry, Ahmed served as a Business Development Consultant supporting Inclusiv’s Capital and Mortgage teams. He is responsible for driving the growth of CDFI community development lending business lines and supporting the capacity of members to build and grow their operations through secondary capital and mortgage secondary marketing. Prior to joining Inclusiv, he served as Chief Credit Officer at the Municipal Credit Union (NY).
Kenia Calderón Cerón
As Client Relations Director for Coopera, Kenia Calderón Cerón partners with credit unions to create and execute strategies to grow membership and connect them with the Hispanic community. As a Salvadoran immigrant, she has been a tireless advocate for Latinos, the undocumented community and those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status. In 2017, she was named a Woman to Watch by CU Times.
Diana Cervantes
Diana Cervantes is Vice President of Community and Business Development for Premier America Credit Union and leads the Premier America Foundation. As a champion of change she has supported local communities for over twenty years by introducing responsible, affordable and transparent financial services for underserved and unbanked communities. Diana is Board Member for the Ventura County Library Foundation, Steering Committee Member for the City of Los Angeles, Committee Member for the City of Los Angeles High-Cost Anti-Predatory Lending Advisory.
Monica Copeland
Monica is a Senior Program Officer at Inclusiv, where she manages initiatives providing technical assistance and resources to help strengthen and grow Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) as well as implementing special projects involving financial capability and financial technology. Prior to working at Inclusiv, Monica was a Senior Program Manager at Prosperity Now. She has also worked on asset building and access to banking for low- and moderate-income individuals at the New York City Office of Financial Empowerment, Baltimore CASH Campaign (now CASH Campaign of MD), IDA and Asset Building Collaborative of NC, and Self-Help.
Carla Decker
Carla Decker is President & Chief Executive Officer of DC Federal Credit Union. Under her leadership, DC FCU attained the Community Development Financial Institution designation from the U.S. Department of Treasury. The Credit Union is also designated by the National Credit Union Administration as Low Income, and a Minority Depository Institution. Carla advances DC FCU’s mission of financial inclusion by serving otherwise un-banked consumers. Through ACCESO, an innovative collaborative that linked multiple credit unions, DC FCU advocates for the financial well-being of the local Hispanic and immigrant community.
Fabiana DeGuire
Fabiana Luis-DeGuire is a Financial Inclusion Officer for Hope Credit Union (HOPE). In her capacity as FIO, Fabiana manages the strategic direction and growth of Crece con HOPE (Grow with HOPE), the program developed to expand financial inclusion for Hispanics and immigrants in the Deep South. Her work involves developing key partnerships, providing financial counseling, products and other related services to the immigrant population in the Deep South. It is through this work HOPE obtained Inclusiv’s Juntos Avanzamos certification, making it the first credit union in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee with this accreditation.
Harry Franklin
Harry L. Franklin is the retiring Manager of the Concord Federal Credit Union in Brooklyn, NY. Franklin has held the position since 2001. During his tenure, he has helped to position Concord to enter a new era in its 69 years of service to the community, providing safe, affordable financial services to local residents and Concord Baptist Church members. In the past four years, Inclusiv has played a key role in this process.
Fiona Greig
Fiona Greig is a Managing Director and the Director of Consumer Research at the JPMorgan Chase Institute, which delivers data-rich analyses and expert insights for the public good. She joined the Institute in 2014 as Deputy Budget Director for the City of Philadelphia for two years. Fiona has published research on topics including household finance, healthcare, labor markets and the Online Platform Economy, gender, and behavioral decision making. Her work has been widely cited in the media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and CNBC.
Urla Gomes
Urla Gomes is CEO of Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union. She was born in Guyana, South America. She later migrated to Los Angeles, CA, graduating from Pepperdine University School of Business. She started her career in the financial services industry with Bank of America and subsequently moved to Sanwa Bank as Vice President as Branch Manager before becoming CEO of the Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union in 1994. She has been a past board member for Inclusiv and has received many awards for her work in the banking and credit union industry.
Jodie Harris
Jodie Harris is the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund Director and has worked in both the public and private sectors for over 25 years. She joined Treasury in 2007 as an Associate Program Manager with the CDFI Fund, and later served as Senior Advisor to the Director of the CDFI Fund. Jodie has managed grant programs and developed legislative and policy proposals for a wide range of issues focusing on access to capital, community development banking, and financial inclusion. Most recently, Jodie led a team of policy analysts to develop policies and programs to support community and economic development nationwide.
Edgar Hernandez
Edgar Hernandez is a Multicultural Strategy Manager with CUNA Mutual Group in Madison, WI. He is dedicated to advancing the efforts of the new Multicultural Center of Expertise, which includes gaining a deeper understanding of underserved consumers; partnering with internal departments to develop new strategies and products to serve consumer needs; and building coalitions that support similar efforts outside of CUNA Mutual Group. Prior to this role, Edgar worked as the Business Development Manager for a top-tier product innovation firm, Design Concepts.
Gigi Hyland
Gigi Hyland is the Executive Director of National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF), the philanthropic and social responsibility leader of America's credit union movement. Prior to her work with the Foundation, Ms. Hyland served as a Board member of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). Ms. Hyland spearheaded a number of key initiatives including co-authoring a policy white paper on supplemental capital and a report on credit unions' outreach to people of modest means.
Maurice Jones
Maurice A. Jones is CEO and President of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), one of the country’s largest organizations supporting projects to revitalize communities and catalyze economic opportunity. Prior to joining LISC, Maurice was the Secretary of Commerce and Trade for the Commonwealth of Virginia where his primary job was to utilize Virginia’s assets to solidify its position as the preeminent place to live, work and conduct business. Maurice also served as Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Cathi Kim
Cathi Kim is Director of Inclusiv/Capital. Cathi's work at Inclusiv is focused on connecting CDCUs to capital to strengthen their double bottom line of financial growth and community impact. Her role includes leading underwriting, market analysis and strategy development, advising on credit union regulations, business planning, and impact design to help credit unions strengthen their double bottom line of financial growth and community impact. Prior to her work at Inclusiv, Cathi worked on housing and immigrant rights campaigns and complex civil litigations.
Tom Kurian
Tom Kurian is the Vice President of Enterprise Information Security at UNFCU and the UNFCU Global Sustainability Program (GSP) Manager leading the Credit Union Industry Team. Through its flagship effort, the United in Sustainability (UIS) Network, UNFCU seeks to establish credit unions as authentic, values-based leaders in the financial services sector. Tom works with credit unions, credit unions suppliers and industry groups to amplify our collective impact through community and collaboration. Tom is a Certified Sustainability Practitioner.
Cathie Mahon
Cathie Mahon has led Inclusiv since 2012 overseeing a period of dramatic growth and expansion of the organization and network. She is committed to the Inclusiv mission of promoting financial inclusion and building more inclusive economies through community owned and controlled financial institutions. Ms. Mahon previously served as Deputy Commissioner at the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs where she started and led New York City’s Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE). Ms. Mahon was also a co-founder of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Coalition and Fund and remains an active Board member.
Armando Martinez
Armando A. Martinez, CUDE Supervisory Committee Member of Empowerment Community Development Federal Credit Union Houston, TX. He values mentoring opportunities that help create a broader understanding among small asset credit union management teams focused on education, training and effective member driven credit union operations. Armando has been an active participant with the Cornerstone Credit Union League and has held positions on the Governance Task Force and the Small Credit Union Committee.
Maria Martinez
Maria J. Martinez is the President/CEO of Border Federal Credit Union in Del Rio, TX. Under Martinez's leadership, BFCU expanded its field of membership from three to thirteen Texas counties; obtained the CDFI Certification; implemented a free home/financial counseling program; and offers free income tax preparation to low-income taxpayers through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Martinez is active as the Co-Chairwoman of the Network of Latino Credit Unions & Professionals (NLCUP) Association.
Gregory Milne
Gregory Milne is the Chief Impact and Foreign Policy Officer at the Clinton Foundation. In this role, he oversees the Foundation's efforts on programmatic impact and evaluation, metrics, and information sharing; he also helps guide international strategy and plays a central role in shaping and executing President Clinton's foreign policy vision for the Foundation. Previously, he served as the deputy chief of staff and director of policy to President Clinton and chief executive office of the Clinton Foundation’s Haiti program.
Sheilah Montgomery
Sheilah Montgomery, CUDE is CEO/President of Florida A&M University FCU. She previously served as Secretary of 1st Choice Credit Union Board of Directors. She is a Co-founder of the African-American Credit Union Coalition, international CUDE designee, managing consultant for the Atlanta Westside Financial Capability Center and serving on the of Board of Inclusiv. She was recognized as an Outstanding Georgia Citizen by Georgia Secretary of State.
Jacqueline Moore
As CEO of Faith Community United Credit Union, Jacqueline Moore has oversight of all of Faith’s retail operations, investments, compliance, and outreach, which call for her to work directly with and oversee reporting to regulatory agencies, elected officials, marketing firms, and a variety of other entities. She has been a vital part of the organization’s consistent ability to meet compliance, insurance, and other regulatory standards. Few careers in financial services can match 34 years of creating wealth for and within low- and moderate-income (LMI) households and communities at the same institution but Jacqueline's has been that and more.
Erin O'Hern
As Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for PolicyWorks, Erin O’Hern supports PolicyWorks’ national partnerships through consulting support in the areas of governance, risk and compliance. Before joining PolicyWorks she worked for Iowa Legal Aid handling a variety of civil law matters. She received her law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law. Erin has over ten years of experience working with credit unions and consumers on financial regulatory issues.
Luis Pastor
Luis Pastor first joined Latino Community Credit Union in the year 2000 just weeks after its founding. He started working at the credit union as a volunteer, and soon thereafter the board of directors decided to bring him on as the Credit Union’s first President and CEO. Under Luis’s leadership, LCCU has seen its membership grow to more than 90,000 members, provided more than $900 million in community development financing, and accumulated more than $550 million in assets. Since its founding, LCCU has received more than 30 awards for its impact.
Leigh Phillips
Leigh Phillips is the President & CEO of SaverLife, a national nonprofit that helps working families achieve prosperity through savings. Leigh has led SaverLife’s transformation from a local direct service organization to a leading financial technology nonprofit. SaverLife’s flagship program, SaverLife.org, now serves over 170,000 clients across all 50 states. Leigh was instrumental in the creation of the Nonprofit Leaders in Financial Technology Coalition and the Cities for Financial Empowerment Coalition.
Terry Ratigan
Terry Ratigan serves Inclusiv as a Senior Consultant and is a leading analyst of credit union performance and impact in low-income and underserved communities. In 2010 he developed a statistical methodology to evaluate credit union activities in CDFI Target Markets and eligibility for CDFI certification that has been used for hundreds of credit union certifications to date. An adapted version of this methodology served as the basis for the 2011 revision of the NCUA Final Rule on Low-Income Designation and CDFI Fund guidance on target market analysis.
Robin Romano
Robin Romano has been Chief Executive Officer for MariSol Federal Credit Union, a CDFI in Phoenix Arizona for over 20 years. She is proud to work every day on financial empowerment and inclusion for MariSol’s members as well as serving the community needs of the low-income and disenfranchised markets of metropolitan Phoenix. Creating unique products and services for members that are often overlooked in the banking community is what puts a smile on her face. Previously she served as a Principal Examiner for the National Credit Union Administration and Chair of the Credit Union Advisory Committee for the CFPB.
Richard Romero
As the leader of one of the oldest credit unions in Seattle, Richard Romero has placed a focus on leading an organization that focuses on making sure EVERYONE prospers and not just those with easy access to financial services. He has led his organization into areas that focus on populations that are mostly ignored by financial institutions by becoming a CDFI, LDI and Juntos Avanzamos Credit Union. Additionally, his credit union has led the way in creating products such as Citizenship Loans, ITIN Real Estate Loans and ITIN auto, personal loans and more.
Angela Russell
Angela Russell is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at CUNA Mutual Group. Angela is responsible for leading the development, direction and implementation of short and long-term strategies and programs that support diversity, equity and inclusion. Ms. Russell has over 16 years of professional experience involving diversity and inclusion, external relations and outreach, communications, policy development, and research and evaluation. Prior to joining CUNA Mutual she worked in various leadership roles in public health and Wisconsin state government.
Samira Salem
Samira Salem is the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at CUNA. She has nearly 20 years of experience in international economic development, community development, policy research, and social finance. She joined the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) in 2018 as a Senior Policy Analyst in the Research and Policy Analysis division. Prior to joining CUNA, she worked for Forward Community Investments (FCI), a Madison-based community development financial institution (CDFI) that serves communities throughout Wisconsin.
Maurice Smith
Maurice Smith is the CEO of Local Government Federal Credit Union and Civic Federal Credit Union. Both are financial cooperatives serving the financial needs of employees, appointed officials, elected officeholders and volunteers of local governments in North Carolina. Smith began his career in financial services as a loan officer for State Employees’ Credit Union. Smith served in several capacities including Vice President/City Executive and Vice-president of Marketing/Training.
Michael Swack
Michael Swack is a professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he has appointments at the Carsey School of Public Policy and at the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics. He directs the Center for Impact Finance and the Master’s Program in Community Development, a program designed for adult practitioners At Carsey, he is working on building scale in the community development finance sector, innovations in community development finance, microfinance, and sustainable energy financing.
Michelle Thornhill
Michelle Thornhill is the Director of U.S. Community Relations in Citi’s Community and Investing and Development function. She oversees engagement with local community leaders and organizations in markets across the country to create more inclusive and prosperous neighborhoods. Michelle brings more than 20 years of experience leading strategic initiatives that drive business and societal impact. Previously, she held a leadership role on Wells Fargo’s philanthropy and community relations team, leading strategic planning, governance, impact measurement, talent development and the integration of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Marilyn Waite
Marilyn Waite is a Program Officer in Environment at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Marilyn manages the foundation’s grantmaking on climate and clean energy finance with the ambitious goal of addressing climate change by accelerating the transition to a climate-friendly economy. Marilyn has worked across four continents in venture investment, startups, and low-carbon energy and Marilyn led several operational and research and development projects at AREVA in France. She is the author of Sustainability at Work.
Pearl Wicks
Pearl Wicks is responsible for all HOPE consumer and mortgage financing and program activities. Prior to joining HOPE in 2007, she worked as a Retail Area Sales Manager for Regions Bank covering the Central Mississippi area and as a Deposit Operations Specialist with First Tennessee Bank in Morristown, TN. Pearl has worked in the financial services and community development industry for 30 years. She joined HOPE and helped to establish operations on the Gulf Coast after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Through this work, HOPE provided financial counseling and recovery planning to 10,000 Mississippi residents.
Paul Woodruff
Paul Woodruff serves as the Executive Director of Prosperity Connection and Vice President of Community Development for St. Louis Community Credit Union (SLCCU). He manages strategic initiatives which fund, support, and advance interventions designed to decrease racial and economic inequity throughout the St. Louis region. He has built a robust, data-informed financial coaching program, launched RedDough Money Center as a lower-cost payday loan alternative, and established numerous strategic alliances to fund and support key initiatives led by both the credit union and Prosperity Connection.
Marisela Zambrano
Marisela Zambrano began her career at Illiana Financial Credit Union as a teller in 2013. Currently, Marisela serves as Director of Business Development and Certified BSA Officer. As Director of Business Development, Marisela assisted Illiana Financial in developing an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) Program which led Illiana Financial Credit Union to earn their Juntos Avanzamos designation. Marisela also serves as a volunteer Board of Director for the Prairie State College Foundation.