Jennifer joined FUND Consulting in 2013. She brings over 20 years of non-profit, community development, and CDFI experience focusing on strategies to assist low- and moderate-income individuals and families gain educational and financial access. As Managing Consultant at FUND, she is responsible for business development and direct client work. During her tenure at FUND, she has assisted over 50 loan funds, banks, and credit unions nationwide with securing over $56 million in support and has also directly completed or overseen the completion of strategic plans, capitalization plans, market studies, and CDFI Certification applications for over 60 organizations.
Before joining FUND, she was the Manager/CEO of the North Side Community Federal Credit Union, a CDFI and community development credit union in Chicago. At North Side, she oversaw grant proposal development, market research, product and program design, program implementation, and compliance. She was frequently enlisted to train local and national audiences such as the NCUA on product and program development designed for low-to-moderate-income consumers.
In addition to her CDFI credit union experience, she gained extensive knowledge of micro-enterprise development training and lending as the Director of Lending for the Economic and Community Development Institute (ECDI), a CDFI located in Columbus, Ohio. At ECDI, she managed small business loan funds for refugees, immigrants, and LMI entrepreneurs and managed the largest IDA program in Ohio. She was also Program Manager for the Uptown Center Hull House Small Business Development Center in Chicago where she assisted small business owners with training and access to capital. She has recently served on the Lutheran Child and Family Services’ Ways to Work Loan Committee and as a board member for the Organizing Neighborhoods for Equality: Northside (ONE Northside).
Jennifer received her undergraduate degree in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University and holds a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago.