Nonprofit Finance Fund Welcomes Four New Board Members

New York, NY — November 30, 2022 — Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) is pleased to welcome Brenda Loya, Kris Putnam-Walkerly, Gregory Robinson, and Joe Silver to its Board of Directors. The four new members bring deep experience in finance, consulting, philanthropy, and community development to NFF's Board.  

Each of our new board members brings diverse lived and professional experiences that will support NFF's efforts to bolster community-centered nonprofits,” says Aisha Benson, CEO of NFF. “I am grateful to have their guidance as we work in partnership toward our ambitious vision of thriving, equitable communities across the country.”  

Brenda Loya is Amalgamated Bank's National Director of Community Development Finance. In this role, she is responsible for Amalgamated Bank's community development lending and capital investment that advances economic, climate, and racial justice priorities. She joined Amalgamated Bank in 2019 after serving as the Director of Nonprofit Finance Fund’s Eastern region loan originations team.  

Prior to her roles at Amalgamated Bank and NFF, she worked at Citi Community Capital, where she originated and structured community development loans and equity solutions. Brenda has an MBA from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and a bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Brenda serves as the Vice Chair of the board of directors for Raza Development Fund as well as serving as Co-Chair of the board of directors for Masa NY. 

Kris Putnam-Walkerly advises high-net-worth individuals, foundations, Fortune 500 companies, and family offices to increase their philanthropic impact. As president of Putnam Consulting Group, she has received awards including the Philanthropy Advice award from Family Wealth Report and Best Philanthropy Advisor of the Year from Lawyer International and M&A Today. Kris has also written two books about philanthropy: Delusional Altruism: Why Philanthropists Fail To Achieve Change and What They Can Do To Transform Giving and Confident Giving: Sage Advice for Funders.  

Prior to forming Putnam Consulting Group, Kris was a grantmaker at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and an evaluator at Stanford University School of Medicine. She also served as a trustee of the Community Foundation of Lorain County (Ohio) and the Horizons Foundation in San Francisco. She was also a founding member and Steering Committee Chair of the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers and an advisory board member of Foundation Center Midwest (now Candid). Kris currently serves on the Membership Committee of Philanthropy Ohio’s Board of Directors. She holds a master’s degree in social work from San Francisco State University and a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University (Bloomington). 

Gregory Robinson is a Senior Director – Head of Market Intelligence at Moody's Analytics’ Central Product Group, where he helps Moody's leaders understand and improve Moody's’ positioning in current and future markets. Prior to this role, Greg led two sales teams in the Americas and served as the Co-Chair for Moody's’ Multicultural Employee Resource Group. He also currently serves as Program Lead for the Creating Opportunities for Racial Equity (CORE) program at Moody's. Prior to these roles, he spent over 15 years working in municipal investment banking, residential mortgages, and fixed income institutional sales for Morgan Stanley, UBS Financial Services, and Royal Bank of Scotland.    

Gregory holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a Master’s in Business Administration from Columbia Business School. He also holds the following charters and designations – Chartered Financial Analyst, Financial Risk Manager, and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst.    

Joe Silver is a finance executive with nearly 20 years of experience across corporate finance, commercial lending and impact investing. He is currently CFO of Submittable, a social impact software platform. Prior to his current role, he spent seven years helping to scale two fintech lenders, including Lighter Capital where he was CFO and CAN Capital where he led capital markets and treasury.   

Previously, Joe worked in impact investing at Imprint Capital and microfinance at Unitus, a nonprofit that helped increase access to financial services to disinvested communities globally. Joe began his career at GE Capital in the Financial Management Program. He received a BA degree in business from the University of Washington and an MBA from Columbia Business School. 

More information about our Board and staff is available at https://nff.org/people. If you would like to explore joining our team or partnering in our work, please be in touch at [email protected].    

About Nonprofit Finance Fund  

Nonprofit Finance Fund® (NFF®) is a nonprofit lender, consultant, and advocate. For more than 40 years, we’ve worked to strengthen nonprofit organizations and improve the way money flows to social good. We believe that alongside others we must build a more equitable and just social sector, and are committed to helping community-centered organizations led by and serving people of color access the money and resources they need to realize their communities’ aspirations. To learn more, visit https://nff.org/. 

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