Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise between CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners.
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.
We believe that in order to ensure that traditional and mainstream financial systems are equitably serving Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities to drive solutions that support economic mobility and wealth creation, we must think differently. This series is designed to introduce you to the many people who are working hard to drive change and create a powerful new voice for communities and small businesses.
This spotlight is on Diane Borradaile. Diane is our Chief Lending Officer.
She has more than 35 years of experience in community development finance across the private and public sectors. Diane is responsible for leading the Capital Impact team that provides financing to community-based healthcare providers, nonprofit educational institutions, affordable housing developers, cooperative businesses, retail grocers and wholesalers, and other affiliated organizations nationwide.
Take a moment to watch the video or read the transcript below to learn more about Diane’s background, her role, and some fun facts!
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your role?
A: I am the Chief Lending Officer at Capital Impact Partners. I lead a group of approximately 20 team members in the sourcing underwriting, originating, and closing of the lending that Capital Impact Partners does. It is now called community development, real estate.
Q: What three words would you use to describe this new enterprise?
A: Continuum of capital.
Q: How would you compare the work in the commercial sector with the work of CDFIs?
A: The biggest difference I see is the expectation on the CDFI side, that there will be a boutique approach to how we structure our deals. There is not the expectation that one deal looks like the next. Part of that’s mission driven, part of that is the relative experience of borrowers, and the places where we do business. In commercial real estate, if you got bogged down on doing something unique for every single borrower, you wouldn’t make a single loan. In the alliance, I think it’s a complimentary balance.
Q: Between capital impacts, community development, lending, and CDC, small business finances focus the new enterprise now in both community development and small business. What are the benefits of working together?
A: First and foremost is that continuum of capital. The ability for all of us to meet our borrowers where they need capital, rather than saying, this is what we do and if it doesn’t work for you, goodbye. It’s the ability to say “I provide real estate lending for community facilities or for affordable housing, but you borrower are also a small business and have small business borrowing needs,” or “some of the tenants in your property are small businesses and have small business borrowing needs.” It’s just great to be able to come to the table with all of that to offer.
Q: You lead a team out of New York City. What is so great about the Big Apple in your opinion?
A: My team is across the country and, and those of us who work in New York come from several different capital impact partner teams. But, I would say the first thing for me is the energy that you get from New York. No matter where you stop and stand for a moment, there are things going on. You would never find a quiet corner across any of the five boroughs. Personally, I also like the directness of New Yorkers, that there are no questions about what someone is thinking and that contributes to the idea of a New York minute. Since you get from A to B pretty quickly when you’re direct and it’s an acquired taste, but once you’ve adopted that, it’s pretty refreshing. And just the sheer number of things that you will find in New York.
Q: We know you’re a big biker. Could you tell us about a favorite trip that you’ve gone on?
A: My husband and I recently returned from a trip to Portugal where out of the time we were there, we did a five-day bike ride. Mostly along the Atlantic coast, to South of Lisbon, to an area called Val Garb. It was just lots and lots of fun. We saw great scenery, we stayed in wonderful places, had great food, and good inexpensive wine. It was really fun.
