Christina Travers is Named LISC CFO

9.01.2021 - Press Releases

Travers Named LISC CFO

NEW YORK (Sept. 1, 2021)—The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) today announced the appointment of Christina Travers, one of the country’s leading experts in community development finance, as its new chief financial officer (CFO). Travers is expected to start November 1 and is replacing Michael Hearne, who is retiring after seven years in the position.

Travers is returning to LISC—where she previously spent more than a decade helping pioneer impact investing efforts—from Working Solutions, a nonprofit CDFI focused on microlending in the San Francisco Bay Area. As CFO at Working Solutions, she oversees the organization’s financial functions as well as its portfolio management department.

“We are delighted to welcome Christina back to LISC, especially now, as we continue to help communities recover from the enormous impact of the pandemic,” said Robert E. Rubin, LISC chair and former U.S. Treasury secretary. “Christina’s track record of strong financial management and investor engagement as well as her proven ability to attract new sources of capital to this important work is critical.”

Christina Travers LISC CFO

LISC is one of the nation’s largest community development financial institutions (CDFIs), having invested more than $24 billion to close racial and socio-economic gaps in health, wealth and opportunity throughout the country.

In her previous roles with LISC, Travers served as treasurer and senior vice president of capital strategies. In 2017, she helped spearhead the market’s first-ever CDFI public bond offering, which raised $100 million for LISC and laid the groundwork for CDFI bond issuance by other large organizations.

She also managed LISC’s banking relationships, including closing $500 million in new and renewed facilities. And she co-authored a definitive LISC white paper on CDFIs and impact investing, providing critical information to help new investors understand the opportunities in community development.

“Over the years, Christina has been instrumental in LISC’s development as a sophisticated, multi-faceted capital delivery network that can meet the needs of impact investors and community-based organizations alike,” said Lisa Glover, interim LISC president and CEO.

“With her return to our team, we will again benefit from her talent for financial innovation and management, while ensuring a smooth transition in this critical position, since she already knows our people, programs and partners so well.”

Denise Scott, LISC executive vice president of programs, drew a clear line from LISC’s financial strength to its on-the-ground impact. “If we are going to build a more inclusive, more just economy, where everyone has the chance to succeed, we need creative investment strategies that not only respond to the needs on the ground but that also connect new capital providers with opportunities for sustainable impact,” she explained. “I’ve worked with Christina for more than a decade, and she has proven her ability to support all of that and more.”

In recent years, Travers also served as vice president of finance and capital strategies at the Low Income Investment Fund, where she oversaw capitalization, investor cultivation, and financial planning and analysis, while leading the organization through its first bond offering in 2019.

She currently serves on the board of the Opportunity Finance Network, the national association of CDFIs, and was recently honored by Crain’s New York Business as one of its 2021 Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives. She also serves on the board of the Brooklyn YWCA, where she is treasurer and chair of the finance committee.

“In many ways, I feel like I am coming home to LISC,” Travers said. “And here’s what I know: the most important thing we can do as an organization is leverage our capital and expertise to energize the work of residents, community-based nonprofits, philanthropy, anchor institutions, and policymakers to catalyze opportunity and drive inclusive growth. Every person at LISC is committed to that kind of lasting impact, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

About LISC

With residents and partners, LISC forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across America – great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. Since 1979, LISC has invested $24 billion to build or rehab more than 436,320 affordable homes and apartments and develop 74.4 million square feet of retail, community and educational space.