Capital Impact Partners’ CFO Named to 2020 Washington Business Journal Women Who Mean Business List

Arlington, VA (October 7, 2020) – Capital Impact Partners is pleased to announce that Natalie Nickens Gunn, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, has been named to the Washington Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” program. Now in its 17th year, this award honors the region’s most influential business women who have made a difference in their communities and are leaving a mark on the Washington, D.C. area community.

Ms. Gunn was selected for this prestigious award in a very competitive process. According to the Washington Business Journal, this year “we saw a record number of nominations, making the competition one of the toughest our judges have encountered. Hundreds of nominations poured in from exceptional women all over our region.”

The final awardees, leading their organizations through uncertain times, represent a range of sectors, including government, education, hospitality, banking, construction, and nonprofits. The 2020 group includes Mayor Muriel Bowser; Monica Goldson, CEO, Prince George’s County Schools; Lisa Marsh Ryerson, President, AARP Foundation; and Cristina Anteloa, CEO, Ferox Strategies, among others.

“I am honored by this selection and humbled to be included among such a prestigious group of trailblazing women across the region,” said Natalie Nickens Gunn, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer of Capital Impact Partners. “I hope this award brings attention to the critical work that Community Development Financial Institutions like Capital Impact do to champion issues of social and economic justice in communities across the country.”

As a leader within the CDFI sector, Ms. Gunn continually demonstrates how to be creative and nimble in how Capital Impact raises, manages, and deploys capital for maximum social impact. Highlights of those efforts include:

• Raising and closing $300 million in capital over the past four years to support a variety of community development projects across the country, including the Washington Metro area.
• Overseeing a 108 percent increase in Total Asset Growth, and a 36 percent increase in Unrestricted Net Asset Growth in the past five years.
• Leading the effort to have Capital Impact rated by S&P Global. At the time, Capital Impact was one of the first Community Development Financial Institutions to secure an S&P rating.
• Helping launch the S&P Rated Capital Impact Investment Note. One of the few nonprofit organizations to have a continually offered Note, this product allows institutional and individual investors to earn a financial, as well as a social, return on their investments. To date, Capital Impact has sold more than $160 million in Notes.
• Managing Capital Impact’s membership with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta. Less than one-half of 1 percent of CDFIs have earned membership with the Federal Home Loan Bank system nationally.

Ms. Gunn has published her experiences launching the Capital Impact Investment Note in the Stanford Social Innovation Review and has been featured in Next City for her ability to connect capital from various sources to support communities nationwide.

In addition to her professional achievements, Ms. Gunn is active in her community. This includes:

• Board of Directors and Finance Committee for Pathways to Housing D.C., Current Chair of the Nominating Committee and Past Chair of the Finance & Budget Committee of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA. Tracing its origins back to 1803, Alfred Street has been a leader among churches and has made significant contributions in education, missions, children ministries, and advancement of women.
• Diamond Life National Member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and local member of the Northern Virginia Alumnae Chapter, for which Ms. Gunn also served as past Treasurer
• Past Board Vice-President of St. Stephens & St. Agnes School in Alexandria, VA, where she was the ambassador of the JK-12 Independent School and organized various activities and events in support of the school and communities surrounding the school

“I grew up in a military family, frequently relocating to various parts of the United States and overseas. Through those experiences, I gained insight on certain advantages that some communities had over others. That instilled in me a passion to serve my community as a child and has continued into my adulthood. The power to now serve communities nationwide as the CFO of Capital Impact provides an opportunity for something I never could have imagined,” noted Ms. Gunn.

Prior to serving as CFO, she served as the organization’s Controller, and has held senior positions at the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), National Cooperative Bank, N.A. (NCB), Capital Automotive REIT, Host Hotels and Resorts, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A Certified Public Accountant, Ms. Gunn graduated magna cum laude from Hampton University with a degree in Accounting. Ms. Gunn is a wife and mother of two sons in the Virginia Association of Independent Schools System.