Irvin 'Andre' Alexander is the chief financial officer of CFED and has years of experience in providing timely, accurate and reliable financial management and accountability. Throughout his career, Mr. Alexander has held several positions as chief financial officer and director of operations. Prior to CFED, Mr. Alexander served as the Vice President for Operations/CFO for the Jane Goodall Institute in Silver Spring, MD.

Mr. Alexander received his Master's degree in accountancy from American University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia. Additionally, he holds Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, Certified Association Executive and Certified Financial Manager certificates.

Laura V. Arce is director of the Self-Employment Tax Initiative (SETI) and senior policy analyst for manufactured housing at CFED. As director of SETI, Ms. Arce manages a national initiative that supports community-based organizations that provide tax preparation and related support to low-income, self-employed businesses. As senior policy analyst, she coordinates and advances policy objectives for CFED's Innovations in Manufactured Homes (I'M HOME) initiative, which seeks to ensure that owners of manufactured homes enjoy the full rights and privileges of homeownership.

Prior to joining CFED, Ms. Arce was an associate with the public-interest lobbying firm Rapoza and Associates, where she spearheaded an outreach and education effort on the New Markets Tax Credit. Previously, Ms. Arce was a policy advisor to then-Rep. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) during his tenure as vice chair of the Democratic Caucus. Prior to her government service, Ms. Arce was director of community development for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) where she directed a national homeownership counseling program and was instrumental in the founding of NCLR's subsidiary Community Development Financial Institution, the Raza Development Fund. Ms. Arce is also an entrepreneur who co-founded a children’s footwear business.

Ms. Arce holds a B.A. in interdisciplinary studies from the University of California at Berkeley and a master’s degree in community and regional planning from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Jennifer Brooks As CFED’s state and local policy director, Ms. Brooks oversees CFED’s state and local policy work, including leading a network of state-based advocates—the Assets & Opportunity Campaign—and providing technical assistance, resources and strategic advice to advocates and policymakers. This work is designed to help low-income people build assets and become entrepreneurs, and to create incentives for equitable economic development.

Prior to joining CFED, Ms. Brooks served as a policy advisor to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) on education and training, welfare, labor and women’s and children’s issues. Ms. Brooks also worked for many years at Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that works nationally and locally to build economic independence for women and girls. In that role, she guided WOW’s federal policy involvement and led a multi-state project to implement positive social state policies and demonstrate the need for change at the federal level.

In addition to handling an array of policy challenges throughout her career, Ms. Brooks has also testified before Congress and spoken widely on strategies to help families reach economic self-sufficiency. She holds a master’s degree from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Lisa Buckley is a program assistant in CFED's Durham, NC office, providing administrative, communications and research support services, including assisting with the planning of CFED's 2009 National Conference on Children and Youth Savings, and preparation of research and reporting materials for the 2009 Innovation Summit. Prior to joining CFED, Ms. Buckley taught middle school Spanish and humanities and interned at two nonprofit organizations in North Carolina.

Ms. Buckley holds a B.A. in Spanish and history from the University of Notre Dame, a master's degree in regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master's degree in environmental management from Duke University.

Carmen D. Buffington serves as receptionist for CFED's Washington, DC office.  She is a part of CFED's Operation Team that supports all aspects of programmatic operations.

Prior to joining CFED, Ms. Buffington has worked in the administrative/clerical field for over 15 years at various nonprofits in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

Ms. Buffington is a Certified Etiquette Consultant and entrepreneur.  She is the founder of Generation Excellence Development Center, Inc.  G.E.D.C., Inc. is a faith-based community development organization dedicated to the spiritual, social, civic and economic education of youth 7 through 17 years of age.

Ms. Buffington is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Christian Education degree from Andersonville Theological Seminary.

Chris Campbell serves as the creative services manager for CFED's communications department, where he helps develop and design CFED publications and communications tools.

Prior to joining CFED, Mr. Campbell worked as art director for Scripps Media Center in Washington, where he designed magazines for Food Network and HGTV. He also designed and produced numerous newspaper projects for the Scripps Howard News Service national wire and its 300-plus clients around the country, as well as being editor of the Scripps-McClatchy Western Wire. Before that, he was a Metro section designer and copy editor for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida.

Originally from Louisville, Ky., Mr. Campbell is a graduate from the University of Kentucky. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism.

Elizabeth Coit serves as CFED's vice president for communications and development. Prior to working for CFED, Ms. Coit led resource development efforts for the Center for Community Change, Ms. Foundation for Women, Legal Momentum and the Wilderness Society. She is recognized as a Certified Fundraising Executive, and also provides pro-bono fundraising assistance and training to several domestic and international non-governmental organizations.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Coit served as a program leader for the International Women's Health Coalition and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, developing health, economic and social justice projects in Africa, India and the Caribbean.

Ms. Coit holds a B.A. from Cornell University and a graduate degree from Columbia University.

LeElaine Comer is CFED's State Policy Specialist.  She conducts in-depth policy research and tracks state progress related to a range of policies focused on assets, entrepreneurship and social insurance. She helps manage a network of state policy partners and provides technical assistance in response to requests from state partners and other stakeholders. She is involved in CFED's biennial Assets & Opportunity Scorecard and the Savings for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment (SEED) Policy and Practice Initiative.

Prior to joining CFED, LeElaine worked for MDC, Inc., a non-profit in North Carolina focused on issues of opportunity and equity in the South.  While at MDC, she worked on local economic development initiatives in the rural South and co-directed an innovative workforce development sector program that changed the policies of community colleges and employers and helped prepare hundreds of immigrants for higher-wage jobs with career advancement opportunities.  LeElaine has studied and worked in Central America and has experience in international economic development and social change efforts.

LeElaine holds a B.A. in Sociology and Social & Economic Justice and Master's in City and Regional Planning with a concentration in community economic development, both from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Laura Ewald is CFED's Communications Specialist. She writes and edits internal and external communications materials and web content, and assists in the development and implementation of communications initiatives.

Ms. Ewald previously served as assistant communications director at George Washington University Law School and was associate editor of GW Magazine and GW Law Magazine. Her freelance writing career includes articles for The Washington Post Express, The Washington Examiner and The Georgetowner. In 2002, Ms. Ewald was a Eugene C. Pulliam Fellow at The Indianapolis Star, where she wrote interviews, features, arts reviews and hard news pieces.

Ms. Ewald earned her M.A. in English from George Washington University and holds a B.A. in English from Indiana University.

Robert Friedman is general counsel, founder and chair of CFED's board.

Since 1979, CFED has worked to foster widely shared and sustainable economic well-being by promoting asset-building and economic opportunity strategies that bring together community practice, public policy and private markets in new and effective ways. Mr. Friedman and CFED have helped lead the U.S. development of innovative economic development strategies including microenterprise, flexible business networks, individual development accounts, and economic health assessments. Mr. Friedman's current work focuses on the Savings for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment (SEED) Policy and Practice Initiative to assess the potential of long-term savings and investment accounts established at birth.

Among Mr. Friedman's other major publications are:

• The Return of the Dream: An Analysis of the Probable Economic Return of a National Investment in Individual Development Accounts (1995)
• The Development Report Card for the States (co-author, 1986-1995)
• The Safety Net As Ladder: Transfer Payments and Economic Development (1988)
• Expanding the Opportunity to Produce: Revitalizing the American Economy Through New Enterprise Development (Co-editor, 1981).

Mr. Friedman was founding chair of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity; and currently serves on the boards of SF EARN, the Family Independence Initiative, Doorways to Dreams, the Koshland Committee of the San Francisco Foundation, the Rosenberg Foundation and the Friedman Family Foundation and is a former board member of Levi Strauss & Co and Ecotrust. Mr. Friedman is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School.

Kathryn Gwatkin Goulding is program director of Innovations in Manufactured Homes Initiative (I’M HOME) and senior program manager for new market development. I’M HOME seeks to offer owners of manufactured housing the same types of benefits enjoyed by owners of site-built housing. Ms. Goulding is also a member of the innovation@cfed team and works on an array of other projects focused on asset building.

Prior to CFED, Ms. Goulding was a Program Associate in the Economic Development unit at the Ford Foundation. Her work focused on grants and program related investments in the homeownership and international development finance sectors. She has also worked internationally in the field of microfinance, as part of ACCION International's technical assistance team based at BancoSol, in La Paz, Bolivia. Ms. Goulding holds a B.A. in political science from Amherst College and an M.P.A. from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Jane Hanley is a Senior Resource Development Associate at CFED. As part of the Resouce Development Team, Jane works to ensure up-to-date and accurate reporting within CFED’s database portal and operates other key functions within the Resource Development Team. Prior to joining CFED in 2008, she was the Development Specialist at Historic New England in Boston, a regional heritage organization. Jane holds a B.A. in American Studies from The George Washington University.

Tim Holtan is a Staff Accountant for CFED and works in the Washington, DC office. Tim has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and is working towards his master’s degree in accounting and information technology. Prior to joining CFED, Tim worked at a CPA firm in Rockville, MD.

Joanne Irby is CFED’s Director for Human Resources and Administration. She leads the human resource function, with an emphasis on strategic human resource management, empowerment, quality, productivity and standards, goal attainment, and the recruitment and ongoing development of a diverse and superior workforce.

Ms. Irby has over 12 years experience in all facets of human resource management, in both the profit and non-profit arenas. Prior to joining CFED she was the Compensation & Benefits Manager for the Association of American Medical Colleges, handling such issues as total rewards strategies, performance management, compliance, and training and development. Other work experiences include The George Washington University, and the Advisory Board Company.

Ms. Irby received a Bachelor's degree in Industrial & Labor Relations from Cornell University and holds Senior Professional in Human Resources and Compensation Management Specialist designations.

Janet Jones is the CFED Senior Administrative Assistant, responsible for data management, correspondence and other key functions within the Resource Development Team.

Prior to joining CFED in May 2005, Ms. Jones worked at the Smithsonian Institution National Zoological Park in Exhibits and Outreach.  She assisted a small team of professional designers and animal enthusiasts by managing the office and purchasing materials and supplies necessary to support the upkeep of the Zoological Park.  Ms. Jones has close to 10 years of services in various not-for-profit organizations.  She worked for five years in prostate cancer awareness and several years working and volunteering with environmental and educational groups. 

Ms. Jones is working towards her B.A. in Early Childhood Education from the University of the District of Columbia.  She earned a graduate certificate from the Washington School of Secretaries in Office Management and Procedures in 1990.  Ms. Jones is also a certified Notary Public for the District of Columbia.

Lisa Kawahara is the administrative manager for CFED in San Francisco, CA . She has worked, part-time, managing the office for the past eight years. She also manages a small family foundation whose giving focus is economic development. Prior, she was self-employed working with nonprofit community organizations and foundations.

Ms. Kawahara received an Associate's degree in Business Management and furthered her studies at New College in San Francisco.

Gloria Keys is the staff accountant for CFED. Gloria processes accounts payables – including employee reimbursements and is responsible for the payroll. She has years of experience in accounting practices and was a loan processor with the Mortgage United Services of America prior to CFED.

Kristin Lawton is the media relations manager for CFED where her duties include media relations and the development of CFED's publications and additional communication tools.

Prior to joining CFED, Ms. Lawton worked as an assistant account executive at Strat@comm, a leading public relations/public affairs firm in Washington, DC where she assisted her clients in all facets of communications including media relations, grassroots communications and special events. Before that, she worked at NBC Newschannel and in the press department for the Joe Lieberman for President Campaign.

Ms. Lawton is a graduate of Furman University in Greenville, S.C. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Communication Studies and Political Science.

Andrea Levere is president of CFED and drives the pursuit of its mission to build assets and expand economic opportunity for low-income people and disadvantaged communities. Now approaching the 30th anniversary of its founding, CFED promotes the idea that it is possible and profitable - within a generation - to provide every American, including every child at birth, the opportunity and resources to pursue higher education, start a business, buy a home and save for the future.

Through Ms. Levere's vision and leadership, CFED designs and operates major national initiatives that aim to expand matched savings for children and youth, bring self-employed entrepreneurs into the financial mainstream and turn manufactured housing into an appreciating asset. CFED operates a comprehensive public policy program to build and protect assets at the local, state and federal levels, and produces the nationally recognized Assets and Opportunity Scorecard. Recently, CFED launched innovation@cfed, an initiative which focuses on accelerating the evolution of the next generation of effective strategies to expand economic opportunity.

CFED has enjoyed significant growth under Ms. Levere's guidance, expanding to a staff of 50 with offices in Washington, DC, Durham, NC and San Francisco, CA. Ms. Levere has added resources and focus to CFED's policy and communications efforts, leading to a number of policy victories in state legislatures and growing attention to the importance of asset-building in the national media.

Ms. Levere has served as the Chair of the Board of the Ms. Foundation for Women, and currently serves on the Endowment Committee of the Center for Community Change. She holds a bachelor's degree from Brown University and an MBA from Yale University. In 2001, she received the Alumni Recognition Award from the Yale School of Management and in 2008 was named to the inaugural class of its Donaldson Fellows Program, which recognizes alumni who help educate business and society leaders.

Anne Li is Program Director, Innovation, where she plays a lead role in the team managing innovation@cfed, the organization's strategic initiative to promote and accelerate innovation. Prior to assuming her current role in fall 2008, she served for almost five years as CFED's development director, where she worked with the CFED staff members, executive committee and board to create and implement resource development strategy. Prior to joining CFED, she was resource development director for Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC). Before that, she served for 10 years as the executive director of the New Jersey Community Loan Fund, a statewide, community development financial institution. Before joining the New Jersey Community Loan Fund, Ms. Li pursued a 14 year career in corporate risk and financial management. Ms. Li holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and an A.B. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Debby Manley As a certificated Professional in Human Resources (PHR), Debby Manley provides CFED employees with training and development resources. A veteran of the CFED organization since 1983, Ms. Manley has held various positions over the years and is currently manages all human resource operations. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland University College with a BS in Business Management.

Donnise McWeay is an administrative assistant at CFED.

Genevieve Melford is senior program manager for applied research and a member of the Innovations in Manufactured Homes (I'M HOME) team. Ms. Melford's areas of focus include performance measurement; state and local economic development; asset building and financial security; manufactured housing; development finance; research on the links between small and medium enterprise development and poverty reduction; and the financial needs of low-income people and communities.

Prior to joining CFED, Ms. Melford helped develop a performance measurement system for a statewide economic development plan for the Oregon Business Council and conducted field research on opportunities for commercial investment in the Indian microfinance sector. She has also worked as a labor consultant in New York City, performing research and analysis for a range of labor union clients in support of organizing, bargaining and policy campaigns.

Ms. Melford holds an M.P.A. from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a B.A. in economics from Wesleyan University.

Amr Moubarak As an Applied Research Associate, Amr Moubarak works on benchmarking economic development indicators including the production of the Assets and Opportunities Scorecard. He also provides assistance on variety of projects and program evaluations researching the links between asset building, financial sustainability, poverty reduction, and economic mobility for the poor. Mr. Moubarak is a member of the I’M HOME Team where Manufactured Housing ownership is evaluated as an asset building tool.

Before joining CFED, Mr. Moubarak was an interim research assistant at the Center of Global Development supporting senior economist research to an independent project for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Prior to that, Mr. Moubarak interned at the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) in communications and has done similar work at both the Embassies of France and Jordan years prior.

Mr. Moubarak holds a B.S. in Economics and International Affairs from the George Washington University. He has also completed public policy studies at Carnegie Mellon University as part of the PPIA fellowship.

Camille Palacio is a Policy Associate at CFED. Coming to CFED with an extensive international work in non-profit advocacy, Ms. Palacio lived and participated in non-profit development initiatives and HIV/AIDS ministries in South Africa. She has had the opportunity to travel and study abroad in various countries including Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Costa Rica, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, France, Germany, and Belgium. Throughout her travels and academic pursuits, Ms. Palacio has developed a passion for advocating on behalf of marginalized populations and participating in community development programs. She is involved in the CFED policy team’s effort to expand economic opportunity through research and advocacy.

Ms. Palacio holds a B.A. from Gardner-Webb University with a triple major in Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology and concentrations in development, migration, and refugee affairs.

Kim Pate is CFED’s Vice President for Strategic and Public Partnerships. Ms. Pate oversees partnership selection, stewardship and evaluation and across its priority areas of work - asset building, entrepreneurship, state and local economic development and affordable home ownership.  Ms. Pate is also responsible for all consultancies, including public sector contracts, foundation-funded initiatives and business partnerships. Ms. Pate is an attorney who has specialized in representing the interests of low-income women, families and disadvantaged communities. Ms. Pate is an experienced public speaker, trainer and writer on issues affecting economic opportunity. Her work at CFED enables her to conceptualize and provide leadership to initiatives for low-income people with the goal of improving their economic futures and promoting lasting change.

Prior to joining CFED, Ms. Pate was the deputy director, National Projects for Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) in Washington, DC, a multiple-strategy women's employment organization that is recognized nationally for its skills training models, technical assistance, and advocacy for women workers.

She holds a Law Degree from University of California at Los Angeles School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University.

Ida Rademacher is CFED's Research Director. In this capacity she provides research and evaluation expertise to help CFED define and advance a research agenda that identifies, investigates and advances effective strategies for building assets and expanding economic opportunity. She provides research support and guidance to CFED's field development, product innovation and policy teams. She is also responsible for development of key research publications, and for working with CFED's research partners in government, academia and community-based institutions.

Ida has over ten years of applied research and evaluation experience in the fields of workforce development, rural and immigrant entrepreneurship, and community economic development. Prior to joining CFED, she worked as a Senior Research Officer with the Academy for Educational Development where she managed a portfolio of evaluations of community development and social change initiatives. Key projects included the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Mid South Delta Initiative and the Northwest Area Foundation's Rural Latino Capacity Building Initiative. Ida also worked for five years at the Aspen Institute as a Senior Research & Program Associate with the Community Strategies Group and the Economic Opportunities Program where she formulated and led participatory research and peer-learning projects in the fields of workforce and economic development. Before joining The Aspen Institute, she worked as a management and research consultant in the U.S. and Australia documenting the social, economic and environmental impacts of privatization and market transitions in energy, agriculture and financial sectors of the economy. She undertook graduate studies in economic anthropology at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and received her Masters Degree in Public Policy from the University of Maryland. Her undergraduate degree is in anthropology and economics from James Madison University.

Carl Rist is CFED's vice president for Assets & Opportunity Programs and director of Asset Building. Mr. Rist is responsible for CFED's work to develop, test, support and expand innovative community practices and programs that help create greater economic opportunity. For the last six years, he has been the director of CFED's Saving for Education, Entrepreneurship and Downpayment (SEED) Policy and Practice Initiative, a multi-year, multi-site demonstration of matched savings accounts for children and youth in low-income families. The primary goal of the initiative has been to set the stage for a large-scale, universal, progressive policy for asset building among American children, youth and families. Mr. Rist has been responsible for coordinating the many programmatic elements of the SEED Initiative, including 12 demonstration sites, public policy development and advocacy (primarily at the state level), communication and market development activities. He is the co-author of numerous publications, including From Piggy Banks to Prosperity: A Guide to Implementing Children's Development Accounts, Children's Savings Accounts: A State Policy Sourcebook and numerous articles and papers about children, youth and asset building.

Previously, Mr. Rist was responsible for CFED's efforts to support state-level policy and coalition-building initiatives designed to expand Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and other asset-building programs. He led the development and design of the initial version of CFED's Assets & Opportunity Scorecard (then known as the State Asset Development Report Card), a benchmarking tool that uses more than 70 socioeconomic and policy measures to grade state performance on asset accumulation, distribution and protection. He is also the co-author of the IDA State Policy Guide, a resource for advancing public policies at the state-level in support of IDAs. Mr. Rist's experience at the state level includes working with state task forces in both Delaware and Pennsylvania to develop recommendations for helping citizens, especially those of low-incomes, to build and protect assets. Mr. Rist also has served in an advisory capacity for a number of state-level IDA coalitions, including the North Carolina IDA and Asset-Building Collaborative, the Michigan IDA Partnership, the South Carolina IDA Collaborative and the Mid South IDA Initiative (Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi).

Mr. Rist is the former director of the Economic Development Fellowship Program, which operated from 1998–2003 and was designed to encourage mutual learning and the transfer of new ideas, approaches and strategies between the United States and Europe in the fields of employment and local/regional economic development. Funded by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the EDFP enabled more than 150 development policymakers and program managers from Bulgaria, Germany, Poland and Romania to visit the United States for extended stays to study a focused economic development topic and meet with their counterparts.
Mr. Rist also has experience working on the question of what constitutes a healthy business climate. He is a co-author of Improving Your Business Climate: A Guide to Smarter Public Investments In Economic Development and CFED's widely acclaimed 1994 report, Bidding for Business: Are Cities and States Selling Themselves Short? The latter explores the use and abuse of tax incentives as an economic development strategy. Within the topic of business climate, Mr. Rist has also done research on the link between education spending and economic development and was the principal author of a report released in 1995, How Education Spending Matters to Economic Development.

Mr. Rist earned an M.A. in public policy in 1991 from the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. He also holds an undergraduate degree from Davidson College.

Ernest Roberts serves as the Policy and Communications Administrative Assistant at CFED’s Washington D.C. office. He assists with federal and state legislative advocacy and policy and media research.

Prior to working for CFED, Ernest was a student at the University of Cincinnati. Ernest holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications and a Certificate in Public Relations. Mr. Roberts was a member of the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. He has conducted extensive research with internationally known academic, Dr. Gail T. Fairhurst and was selected to present his undergraduate thesis at the 2007 Ronald E. McNair National Conference.

William Schweke is a senior fellow in CFED's Durham, NC office. Mr. Schweke is a specialist in development finance, plant closings, small and community business initiatives, local development planning, environmentally compatible development, and urban neighborhood development initiatives. In his technical assistance work, he has advised a variety of state and local governments, community-based organizations, foundations, trade unions, chambers of commerce, private utilities, and governmental authorities in the U.S., Europe and Great Britain. In the area of training, Mr. Schweke has developed courses on rural development, community economic development, and local development planning.

Mr. Schweke's latest publications include: Dislocated Workers in North Carolina: Aiding Their Transition to Good Jobs (PDF), "Curbing Business Subsidy Competition: Does The European Union Have An Answer," and "Could Economic Development Become Illegal in the New Global Policy Environment." He is currently researching the potential impact of global trade, investment and procurement agreements on the future of domestic economic development, developing new state approaches for addressing plant closings and mass layoffs, and consulting on a local economic development planning effort in rural North Carolina. Mr. Schweke is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.

Eugene Severens founded the Rural Enterprise Assistance Project (REAP), a microlending and training program serving rural Nebraska in 1989. He went on to start the Nebraska Microenterprise Partnership Fund, a successful statewide microenterprise intermediary and CDFI which supports microenterprise programs in Nebraska. He is currently Director of CFED's National Fund for Enterprise Development, where he works on the State Microenterprise Systems project and directs CFED's Self-employment Tax Initiative (SETI), a project which explores how the tax code is and potentially could be used as an important new direct delivery systems for microbusinesses. SETI recently (Fall 2006) disbursed a series of mini-grants to work with community tax preparation and microenterprise programs to explore the potential of tax preparation and planning as an important new products for the field.

Lonnie Snyder is the Director of Information Technology for CFED

Nancy Stark is director of enterprise and economic development at CFED. She manages CFED’s work to increase self-employment and entrepreneurship development opportunities for low-income individuals and distressed communities. Ms. Stark also directs CFED’s progressive economic development work and builds connections between asset-building and enterprise development.

Ms. Stark has extensive experience in economic and enterprise development, especially initiatives in rural regions and with local and state officials. Prior to joining CFED, she directed the Rural Governance Initiative, a research and best practices program of the Rural Policy Research Institute, and led the National Center for Small Communities’ research, training and technical assistance programs. Her other work experience includes the Aspen Institute, International City/County Management Association and a community-based disability rights organization.

Ms. Stark holds an M.S. in public financial management from American University and a B.S. in community organization and public policy from Cornell University. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two children.

Leigh Tivol is CFED's program director for savings and financial security. The scope of her work includes matched savings accounts and other strategies that enable low-income individuals and families to build assets. From 2006 to 2009, she participated in the implementation of CFED's Savings for Education, Entrepreneurship and Downpayment (SEED) initiative, a national demonstration of matched savings accounts for children and youth. She also contributes to CFED's work in state-level assets policy.

Prior to joining CFED, Ms. Tivol was engaged in state policy and advocacy work in Indiana. During her tenure at the state's housing authority, she staffed the governor's Affordable Housing and Community Development Fund Advisory Committee; developed policy recommendations; and produced the Committee's formal report to the Indiana legislature. She also launched and led Our Indiana Home, a successful multi-sector policy campaign to secure a permanent source of revenue for Indiana's Affordable Housing Trust Fund. At the Indiana Association for Community Economic Development, Ms. Tivol developed statewide policy initiatives relating to Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), homeownership education and counseling, and predatory lending. From 1999 to 2002, she directed the Near Eastside IDA Program, which was one of the first IDA programs in the nation and a partner in CFED's national American Dream Demonstration.

Ms. Tivol holds bachelor's degrees in sociology and French from Brown University and an M.P.A. from Indiana University.

Michael J. Torrens is CFED's director of development finance. He is an innovator in the field of market and asset-building, as he manages the Local Capital Markets Investment Fund, investing in product and market innovations. He also provides top-notch asset-building strategies for individuals and families; tools that leverage products, services, and training for entrepreneurs; investments that strengthen the capacity of Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs); research on the links between enterprise development and poverty reduction; policies that preserve affordable rental housing; and research on key factors that link private, public, and non-profit actors, pioneering market innovations that expand economic opportunity and build assets for all Americans.

Prior to joining CFED, Mr. Torrens served as the executive director of New Jersey Community Capital, New Jersey’s first state-wide CDFI. He began his career in community development finance at EDCS in Harare, Zimbabwe. His international work includes two years assisting local development and peer lending programs throughout the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and program evaluation work in Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. Mr. Torrens also served as coordinator for JVS’s SBA-certified microenterprise loan fund in Boston in 1998.

Mr. Torrens holds a B.A. from Brown University, and M.P.P. from Princeton University. As board member and volunteer he has been active in state and national policy, asset development, and affordable finance advocacy for more than 15 years.

Jerome Uher is Communications Director for CFED.  He oversees media relations, CFED's Web sites and the development and production of publications and communications tools. 

Prior to joining CFED in 2004, Mr. Uher served as a communications and outreach consultant to clients in the non-profit, foundation, and industry association fields.  Mr. Uher began his career in policy communications as a press secretary to Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM).  He served as communications director for the National Parks Conservation Association and worked as an associate for Widmeyer Communications, where he advised the U.S. Department of Agriculture on communication of its farmland conservation and rural development programs.  Mr. Uher also served as director of outreach for Public Agenda, where he shared public opinion research with policymakers and opinion leaders.

Mr. Uher earned his M.A. in Public Relations from Louisiana State University and holds a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism from New Mexico State University.

Inola Walston is the Grant Writer-Manager, responsible for working with program and executive staff to craft grant proposals and reports. Before joining CFED, she served as a Development Officer for the Home Safety Council in Washington, DC. Her experience spans nearly 14 years in the non-profit field where she has applied her writing skills at such venerable organizations as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian. In addition, Inola has worked extensively with the Golden Hill Paugussett Tribal Nation of Bridgeport, Connecticut in their bid to receive federal recognition for their tribe. Ms. Walston is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a B.S. in Interior Design.

Rochelle Watson is a senior program manager for CFED.  She is responsible for leading CFED's field development activities to support the development and delivery of Individual Development Account (IDA) programs.  She also provides technical assistance and other support services to the community partners involved in the SEED initiative.   Prior to joining CFED,  Ms. Watson served as the Asset Development Manager at the Community Financial Resource Center (CFRC) in Los Angeles, CA—a nonprofit community development financial institution—where she ran two IDA programs, managed three homeownership programs, and conducted extensive training with IDA accountholders and new homebuyers. Prior to CFRC, she was a research analyst for the Center for Research Employment Strategies (CRES), the research arm of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, conducting applied research on employment training programs for union members and individuals transitioning from welfare-to-work.

Ms. Watson holds a Master's degree in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles and a B.A. in Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University.

Aaron Watts serves as CFED's senior Web developer. Developing the voice for all aspects of CFED’s online presence, Mr. Watts is responsible for repurposing content, maintaining site standards. Additionally, Mr. Watts also crafts site promotions, email newsletters and online outreach campaigns.

Prior to joining CFED, Mr. Watts was the Senior Web Developer with the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. Mr. Watts attended Ohio State University.

Carol Wayman As CFED's director of federal policy, Carol Wayman provides first-rate strategic counsel to motivate efforts to expand economic opportunity through federal legislative and regulatory advocacy. Through her proactive clarity, vision and purpose at CFED, Ms. Wayman has pushed efforts to expand matched savings accounts through enactment of an Individual Development Account tax credit, refundable Saver's Credit, reauthorization of the Assets for Independence Act, and renewed funding for Individual Development Accounts at the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Her efforts led to the reform of asset limits in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (previously Food Stamps) to exempt savings in IRAs, 529s, and Coverdells from asset limit tests. She also led efforts to expand resources for Community Development Financial Institutions and community economic development in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act.

Prior to joining CFED, Ms. Wayman served as the Director of Policy at the National Congress for Community Economic Development for nearly a decade. She advocated on behalf of nonprofit community development corporations and successfully increased federal and state government investment in their activities. Accomplishments included the enactment of the New Market Tax Credit, expansion of investment activities of the Federal Home Loan Banks, and support of more than $4 billion in state housing and economic development policies.

Additionally, Ms. Wayman is the author of numerous publications including Stroke of the Pen: 40 Recommendations for Policymakers; At Your Fingertips: An Annotated Bibliography for CED Practitioners; Practitioner's Guide to Federal Community Economic Development Programs, and two guidebooks on the New Market Tax Credit.

Ms. Wayman also worked on state tax and nonprofit policy and federal homelessness policies and in city community economic development offices in Burlington, Vermont and Las Vegas, New Mexico. She has a B.A. (Political Science) from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and a M.P.P. (Tax Policy concentration) from American University.

Kasey Wiedrich is a program manager in applied research and innovation at CFED. Her work focuses on the I'M HOME initiative as well as research on asset building and financial security.

Prior to joining CFED, Kasey worked for the City of New York as a policy analyst for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and a research assistant at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. While in graduate school, she conducted research on factors associated with uptake and knowledge of the EITC. She also worked with Public/Private Ventures labor market initiatives evaluating workforce development programs in New York City. Before attending graduate school, Kasey managed Lenders for Community Development's IDA program, the Assets for All Alliance.

Kasey holds a B.A. in sociology/anthropology from Carleton College and an M.P.A from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service.