Lisa Mensah

The Oregon Community Foundation board has hired a national expert in economic opportunity and security, Lisa Mensah, to be the foundation’s next chief executive officer, according to a press release.

Mensah will be the foundation’s fourth CEO in its nearly 50-year history, succeeding Max Williams, who is leaving after a decade of leadership.

Mensah is widely considered an expert on access to capital in distressed and low-wealth communities and on the role of finance in social, economic and racial justice, the release said.

As president and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network, Mensah currently heads one of the nation’s leading networks of Community Development Financial Institutions.

Since joining the network in 2017, Mensah brought new visibility and investment to the Community Development Financial Institutions field. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was an advocate for vulnerable small businesses, helping safeguard them by bringing new capital and partners to the industry.

In 2020, Google partnered with Opportunity Finance Network to invest $180 million in corporate and philanthropic capital into Community Development Financial Institutions through the financial network as the lending intermediary. The same year, Opportunity Finance Network launched the Finance Justice Fund, which strives to raise $1 billion of socially responsible capital, with Twitter as the fund’s first investor.

Born and raised in Oregon, Mensah is returning to her home state following a career that has taken her from working on rural poverty with the Ford Foundation to serving as undersecretary for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

There she managed a $215 billion loan portfolio.

“I am excited to return to my roots here in Oregon; to leverage my expertise and the sum of my experiences,” said Mensah in the press release. “I feel very fortunate to join hands with a 50-year tradition at Oregon Community Foundation, working to help this state and its people flourish.”

“Oregon Community Foundation catalyzes community-led solutions in support of a healthy, thriving Oregon. We look forward to welcoming Lisa Mensah back home in this new leadership role to help advance this great work, and all that will be accomplished together in the years ahead.” said Kimberly Cooper, board chair, Oregon Community Foundation.