Our Spotlight series is designed to introduce you to the many people in our new enterprise who are working hard to drive change and create a powerful new voice for communities and small businesses.
Earlier this year, we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under a single strategy and leadership team.
In this Spotlight, meet Brian McEvoy, our General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary.
Brian is responsible for our legal and compliance functions. He joined our new enterprise in January 2021. He brings significant experience in the commercial, multifamily/housing, real estate, and finance sectors, including broad experience in commercial lending and structured finance, equity, securitization, policy and strategy, product and platform development, risk management, operations, regulatory and compliance.
Take a moment to watch the video or read the transcript below to learn more about what drew him to this organization, his role with our new enterprise, and some fun facts!
Q: What is your role?
A: I’m the General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary for Capital Impact and CDC Small Business Finance. Let’s break down those three titles. General Counsel handles all the legal service needs for the organizations, whether it be our lending activity, corporate activity, etc. Compliance is both internal and external regulatory compliance. Then the Corporate Secretary function is governance and board support to manage the collective organization.
Q: What excites you about our new enterprise?
A: It’s two things. For me, it’s principally about the unique moment of time and the opportunity to make a down payment on creating an equitable society and supporting that going forward. Immediately it’s the two organizations coming together, and having complimentary product offerings that will allow communities to have the tools that they need to grow and participate in the economy. It’s really about what we can do together that we couldn’t do separately. We have some really big ideas and I think we are going to make some huge, huge steps towards a more equitable society and economy.
Q: Your department plays a unique role in how you interact with borrowers and partners. Can you talk a bit more about that?
A: This one’s the fun one. This is the opportunity to show that lawyers are business people too. The lawyers for any organization may be the first exposure that an external party may have to that enterprise. For us, whether it be our internal clients, borrowers, partners or investors, we must show that we understand the business and that we understand what our business objectives are and we can provide advice in that lens. That’s a value add business partner way of doing things, versus the stereotypical way where things slow down and you say no. I have a great team that is doing that and doing it well so that we can achieve what we want to achieve. If we’re doing that, my team’s going to be very excited, engaged, and that’s how you build really great cultures, when you feel like you’re invested in part of the solution.
Q: What did you want to be when you grew up?
A: My mom said I used to say heart surgeon, brain surgeon, or baseball player. I don’t know why on the first two, probably because the heart and brain were critical organs and they were important. But then the baseball player made sense, I’m a southpaw and could throw a knuckleball. Who wouldn’t want to be a baseball player with that, and I can still throw it, so there’s still a chance.
The other two, more serious things are when I was in college. I thought about going to seminary instead of law school. While my friends had made fun of me for that, I think there is an overlap there with the idea about counseling. In the way that lawyers counsel, it’s just a different way of doing it, obviously than being a pastor or something like that. But, between those three or four answers, the truth is in there somewhere.
Q: If you could instantly attain any skill or talent, what would it be and why?
A: Selfishly it would be to be able to play guitar on stage, because a lot of people know that I write songs in my spare time and I’d go down to Nashville and record for fun. Not being able to play on a stage is frustrating for me. But the true answer is learning another language because I think the power of language and being multilingual is really beneficial. I’ve hurt myself by not doing that, but I also think it’s important because as we try to understand equity and community and culture and difference, there’s very few ways that are better than through learning another language and stepping out of your native tongue.
