We have direct experience working in partnership with communities to execute complex initiatives and solutions focused on social and economic transformation.

MEET THE TEAM

Lisa J. Nutter

  • Lisa is a social entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience as a community development practitioner, researcher, impact evaluator, and strategist. Her experiences have significantly shaped her belief in multidimensional approaches to community building and economic well-being. She has worked throughout her career on national efforts that strengthen organizations focused on social change – initiatives designed to improve planning, organizational learning, research, and data utilization to deepen community impact. These interests and experiences fuel her focus on driving capital and resources to overlooked communities and leaders in ways that successfully bring effective solutions to scale and transform communities.

Jorge (Jay) Vazquez

  • Jay is the founder of Workshop Studios providing nonprofits with essential resources, tools, strategic guidance, and operational support to rapidly develop, validate, and scale new social impact ideas into sustainable and impactful initiatives. He brings extensive planning, design and organizational capacity building experience from education, healthcare, and child welfare spaces to bear while integrating technology to improve practices and outcomes for children, families, and communities.

Melissa L. Bradley

  • Melissa is a tri-sector leader and Managing Partner at 1863 Ventures with more than 20 years of entrepreneurship, investment and leadership experience. She is an Adjunct Professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University where she teaches impact investing, social entrepreneurship, P2P economies and innovation. Melissa has served as a Presidential Appointee under Presidents Clinton and Obama. Under Clinton, Melissa served as Financial Regulatory Affairs Fellow at the Department of Treasury, Office of Thrift Supervision, where she researched the impact of welfare reform and micro-enterprise lending on the financial industry and authored “IDA Strategy for Asset Accumulation” ipsum

Cassie Haynes

  • Cassie Haynes is a strategist, historian, and nonprofit leader working at the intersection of local news, public scholarship, and community access to information. She serves as executive director of the Independence Hall Association and president of Plot Twist Consulting, advising philanthropic and mission-driven organizations on strategy and values alignment. Cassie previously co-founded and co-led Resolve Philly, helping grow it into a nationally recognized nonprofit newsroom. She is a Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan and serves on the Ann Arbor District Library Board.

Denise Barreto

  • Denise W. Barreto is a justice strategist and public systems architect designing the civic infrastructure for more equitable futures. A former CTA executive and Cook County equity director, she aligns policy, capital, and narrative to build durable systems that outlast political cycles. She is founder of Built For Us All and helped lead Illinois’ landmark 2025 transit funding reform.

Sean Daniel Murphy

  • Sean Daniel Murphy advances people-centered, place-led investment strategies that connect catalytic capital to community-based leaders and solutions at Community Impact Investments (CII). With more than 20 years of experience mobilizing capital across the full spectrum, he focuses on backing people, purpose, and place. He pairs investment with creative strategy, culture, and public–private partnerships to align community insight, policy, and capital for greater impact.

Advisory Board Members

  • Nicholas Almeida, COO, Mission Investors Exchange*

    Steve K. Benjamin, Principal, The Benjamin Firm

    Elisse Douglass, Founder & Principal, East Freedman & Main

    Michéle Carmody-Dugger, VP, Internal Audit, Enovis

    Della Clark, President, The Enterprise Center*

    Tim Freundlich, Founder & Executive Director Strategic Development, ImpactAssets

  • Jay Goldstein, CEO, Spring Garden Capital

    Erik Moore, Founder and Managing Director of Base Ventures 

    Richard Hayden, Managing Partner, State Street Advisors

    Malo Hutson, Dean, School of Architecture, University of Virginia 

    Bob Moul, CEO, Circonus 

    Gina Nisbeth, Founder and President, 9th & Clinton, LLC *

    Jane Oates,President, WorkingNation

  • Lisa Servon, Department Chair, City & Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania 

    Jim Shelton, CEO, Blue Meridian Partners*

    Sherece West-Scantlebury, President & CEO of Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
    Dalila Wilson-Scott, Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer of Comcast Corporation and President of the Comcast NBCUniversal Foundation

    *Investment Committee

Honoring Lisa Hall

1965–2025

A Legacy Rooted in Justice, Innovation, and Generosity

Lisa L. Hall was more than an advisory board member—she was a visionary, a mentor, and a force for equity whose career shaped the field of impact investing and social finance. Her leadership helped bring billions in capital to community-driven solutions across the globe. From the New Markets Tax Credit to groundbreaking gender-lens initiatives, Lisa consistently widened the lens through which power and possibility were understood.

At Community Impact Investments, Lisa was both a guide and a grounding presence. Her clarity, brilliance, and unwavering commitment to justice informed not just our strategies, but our spirit.

We honor her as a foundational voice of our work and a continuing inspiration in all that we do.