Community Investment Management's (CIM) team is comprised of investment and technology professionals with significant lending, asset management, and fintech expertise. Our investment team has a proven track record to select, underwrite and manage investments of specialty niche lenders in highly fragmented markets with limited data.
Elena Amato serves as Managing Director, Investments
Elena Amato serves as a Managing Director on the Investment team and is based out of New York City. Prior to joining CIM, she led business development efforts in New York for DealVector, a fintech analytics firm focused on structured credit. Previously, she was a co-founder, partner, and investment officer at GMG Investment Advisors, a global Emerging Markets asset manager where she was responsible for various aspects of the strategy including managing private credit and impact investment portfolios. Mrs. Amato previously held positions at Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs, where she was part of their Emerging Markets interest rate, currency and derivatives structuring and sales businesses. Mrs. Amato started her career at Cargill Financial Services as an Emerging Markets trader.
Mrs. Amato holds a M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in Finance and International Business from the University of Northwestern.
Alejandro Arenas serves as Investment Principal
Alejandro Arenas serves as an Investment Principal on the Investment team and is based out of Bogota, Colombia. Prior to working as a consultant with CIM, Alejandro was a Vice President at Inverlink, an investment bank, and asset manager, where he was responsible for early-stage venture capital investments. Previously, he worked for Developing World Markets, a financial inclusion investment manager, as a private equity associate for Latin America, and for J.P. Morgan as a private bank analyst. Alejandro began his career at Inverlink as an investment banking analyst.
He holds a M.B.A. from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School and a B.A. in Economics from Universidad de los Andes.
Rachel Balmy serves as Manager, Operations and Investor Relations
Rachel Balmy serves as a Manager where she focuses on operations, investor relations and portfolio research. Prior to joining CIM, she worked as a Communications Associate for UC Berkeley's Office of Sustainability and Energy (OSE), an organization committed to measuring, reporting, and reducing the campus' ecological footprint by setting and achieving sustainability goals through project implementation, planning, partnerships, and community engagement. Among her duties at the OSE, she developed and directed social media campaigns on campus, established student-faculty relationships, served as Editor-in-Chief of the OSE newsletter, and contributed to the annual campus Sustainability Report. Ms. Balmy also worked as a GIS consultant for StreetLight Data, a mobile data analytics company dedicated to transforming how transportation and mobility behavior is used across urban planning, transportation infrastructure design, business, and research. While at StreetLight, she collected, analyzed, and mapped relevant data points for their online application and database.
Ms. Balmy holds a B.S. in Society & Environment and a B.A. in Geography, both from the University of California, Berkeley.
Bharat Desai serves as Investment Analyst
Bharat Desai serves as an Investment Analyst on the Risk and Analytics team. Prior to working as a consultant with CIM, Mr. Desai was a senior data scientist at Nikel, a leading embedded finance technology player in South East Asia providing end-to-end solutions for banks and technology companies to lend to their customers in underserved sectors like small businesses, healthcare, agriculture, and sustainability. He was focused on investment due diligence on Fintech credit investments, and led portfolio monitoring and management efforts on existing investments. Before starting his career in financial services, he conducted quantitative research in machine learning and optimization applications for cyber-physical systems at the NUS-Singtel Research and Development Laboratory.
Mr. Desai holds a B.Eng in Systems Engineering from Singapore University of Technology and Design.
Bernhard Eikenberg leads the Emerging Markets strategy
Bernhard Eikenberg serves as Partner of CIM Emerging Markets LLC (“CEM”) and co-founded the firm's Emerging Markets strategy, where he focuses on investment and operations activities and is based out of Berlin. Prior to co-founding CEM, Mr. Eikenberg spent a decade in various roles at Bamboo Capital Partners, an impact investment manager, where he served as Fund Manager for Bamboo's fintech equity fund, Head of Financial Inclusion, and Regional Director for Latin America. Previously, he worked for BlueOrchard Finance, a microfinance investment manager, where he was responsible for debt operations in Central America and the Caribbean as well as local currency lending initiatives. Mr. Eikenberg began his career at JPMorgan in London, where he focused on fixed income and currency derivatives.
Mr. Eikenberg has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Economics Faculty of Universidad de los Andes in Bogota and currently guest lectures at The Graduate Institute in Geneva. He holds an M.A. in Public Affairs and International Development from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and a BSc in Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science.
Alison Eskesen serves as Managing Director, Strategy and Impact Investment
Alison Eskesen serves as a Managing Director focusing on Strategy and Impact Investment. Prior to joining CIM, she led the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth in Asia Pacific, where she built the regional philanthropic portfolio focused on small businesses growth, gig worker skilling, and health infrastructure. Ms. Eskesen has significant industry and international development experience in expanding market connections, digitization and access to financing. She was part of the inaugural team that launched Grow Asia, an agriculture partnership catalyzed by the World Economic Forum and the ASEAN Secretariat and spent the majority of her career at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she mobilized $2.8 billion in domestic private capital for local development projects across 40 markets.
Ms. Eskesen received a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Colgate University and a M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University. Ms. Eskesen is a Fulbright Scholar, conducting research on the influence of female role models in politics in Paraguay.
Audrey Gordon serves as Manager, Investments
Audrey Gordon serves as a Manager on the Investment team. Prior to joining CIM, Ms. Gordon was Vice President of Private Credit at New Island Capital Management, an institutional-scale impact investor, where she deployed debt capital in furtherance of financial inclusion, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and education. Prior to New Island, Ms. Gordon worked with Wells Fargo's Community Lending and Investment group, where she underwrote equity-equivalent capital (EQ2) in favor of Community Development Financial Institutions, and with Bank of America, where she underwrote revolving and term debt across the semiconductor, technology hardware, and software industries.
Ms. Gordon holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley
Arash Gourtani serves as Director, Investments and Analytics
Arash Gourtani serves as a Director on the Investment and Risk and Analytics teams and is based out of Singapore. Prior to working as a consultant with CIM (through Codevity), Mr. Gourtani was a co-founder at Impact Credit Solutions, an impact investment manager focused on fintech credit investments in South East Asia, where he served as Chief Analytics Officer, leading the Risk Analytics and Data Science team. Mr. Gourtani also previously was a Lead Data Scientist at Funding Circle UK and Senior Quantitative Analyst at Barclays, where he focused on SME credit risk modelling and portfolio optimization. Prior to Barclays, Mr. Gourtani was a Quantitative Analyst at HSBC, where he reviewed the model risk and methodology across different businesses. Before starting his career in financial services, he conducted quantitative research in renewable energy optimization at Smartest Energy and University of Southampton.
Mr. Gourtani holds a BSc in Statistics from University College London, MSc in Operational Research from London School of Economics and PhD in Mathematics from University of Southampton.
Jacob Haar serves as Managing Partner and leads investments and operations
Jacob Haar serves as Managing Partner of CIM and leads the firm's investment and operations activities. He was co-founder of Minlam Asset Management, an investment advisor which launched and managed Minlam Microfinance Fund, the first global investment fund focused on providing local currency debt investment to micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) lenders in emerging markets. Mr. Haar served as Managing Director of Minlam from 2005 to the Fund's acquisition in 2012 and managed MSME investments, fund and firm operations, and public-private partnerships. Following Minlam's acquisition, Mr. Haar oversaw Minlam Microfinance Fund's transition to the MicroVest GMG platform and served as a Partner of the acquirer, GMG Investment Advisors, where he continued working on MSME investments and fund operations until founding CIM to focus on the United States MSME market in 2013.
Prior to co-founding Minlam in 2005, Mr. Haar worked in Azerbaijan for Save the Children USA's microfinance institution. Previously, he was the Founder and Principal of Ihylma, a socially responsible Indonesian manufacturing and real estate company. Mr. Haar is a Fulbright Scholar, received a M.A. from the University of Chicago's Center for Middle Eastern Studies and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Jeff Hilton serves as Managing Director, Investments and Finance
Jeff Hilton serves as a Managing Director of the Investment and Finance teams. Prior to joining CIM, he was Senior Vice President of Capital Markets at Opportunity Fund, a certified Community Development Financial Institution, where he was responsible for funding the small business loan portfolio. Previously, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Aura Financial, overseeing capital markets, finance, and human resources. Mr. Hilton has extensive experience as a portfolio manager at BlackRock and Barclays Global Investors, where he focused on securitized products for over a decade. He began his career at Providian Financial, managing the day-to-day operations of the company's structured product funding vehicles.
Mr. Hilton received a B.A. in Economics and an M.S. in Applied Economics and Finance from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Michael Hokenson serves as Partner and leads business development
Michael Hokenson serves as Partner of CIM and leads business development for the firm. He was co-founder of Minlam Asset Management and served as Managing Director from 2005 to 2012, where he developed an extensive network of global institutional and individual investors for Minlam Microfinance Fund. Mr. Hokenson served as a member of the fund's Investment Committee and performed credit analysis including on-site due diligence and monitoring of active investments. Following Minlam's acquisition, he joined TriLinc Global LLC as Director of Sales to launch the first SEC-registered impact investment fund in June 2013 focused on emerging market SME private credit.
Mr. Hokenson has published case studies on the profitability of MSME lenders in The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by Professor C.K. Prahalad. Mr. Hokenson graduated from the Erb Institute of Global Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, earning a M.B.A. at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and a M.S. at the School of Natural Resources and Environment. He received his B.A. from St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Fabián León serves as Investment Analyst
Fabián León serves as an Investment Analyst on the Investment team and is based out of Bogota, Colombia. Prior to working as a consultant with CIM, he was CFO and Co-Founder of Factcil, a fintech for freelancers in Colombia, where he focused on developing the firm’s credit model and supporting fundraising efforts. Previously, he served as Credit Manager at the representative office of Banesco in Colombia, overseeing the commercial loan portfolio and researching the local financial intermediation industry. He also worked at BRC Standard & Poor’s, rating sub-sovereign entities. He earned the CFA Charter in 2017 and is Co-Founder and Secretary of the Board of Directors at CFA Society Colombia. Mr. León is also a representative of the Atlantic Island and Latin America Advocacy Council. He began his career at Banco Davivienda, assessing the creditworthiness of corporates.
Mr. León holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance and International Trade from the Universidad del Rosario in Bogota, Colombia, and a master’s degree in Corporate Finance from EDHEC Business School in Nice, France. In addition, he earned the CFA Charter in 2017 and is Co-founder and Secretary of the Board of Directors at CFA Society Colombia. Mr. León is also a representative of the Atlantic Island and Latin America Advocacy Council.
Dryden Liddle serves as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Dryden Liddle serves as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for CIM. He previously was head of legal and compliance at Aura Financial Corporation (formerly Insikt, Inc.), a Community Development Financial Institution, where he helped build the first private market securitization platform backed by community development loans, and established hedge funds and private equity funds as alternative investment vehicles to fund Aura's loans. He managed securities and consumer finance regulatory issues and worked closely with federal and state regulators. At Aura, Mr. Liddle also executed successful legislative strategies that increased access to responsible, credit-building loans in low-income communities.
Prior to Aura, Mr. Liddle was General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for LawFinance Group, a California Finance Lender and specialty finance company, providing working capital loans and other innovative funding solutions to law firms and their clients. While at LawFinance Group, he was responsible for overseeing legal and compliance matters for the company's originations and investor funds. Mr. Liddle also worked at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in New York where he focused on corporate reorganizations. He began his career as an English lawyer at Tucker Turner Kingsley Wood LLP in London, founded by Winston Churchill's Minister of Finance.
Mr. Liddle has a B.A., with honors, from University of York and an LL.M., with distinction, from Boston University School of Law. He is admitted to practice law in California, New York and England & Wales.
Peter Matsis serves as Head of Technology
Peter Matsis serves as Head of Technology. He has significant experience building custom software for complex business operations and large data sets using a wide array of technologies. Prior to joining CIM, he worked as the lead software and database developer at ABC Bus Companies, where he successfully merged several companies and over 2 million inventory items into one ERP system with a custom e-commerce backend. Mr. Matsis lead the data conversion effort in a 3 year ERP implementation replacing most accounting, payroll, sales and employee data systems. Mr. Matsis managed all current data systems for ABC and worked closely with each department to automate processes and boost productivity, including building customer reporting tools, e-commerce stores and several data interfaces for vendors and customers. Before ABC, Mr. Matsis was the lead software and database developer for S & A Homes, where he developed the company's custom intranet system that effectively automated business functions resulting in increased efficiencies. Mr. Matsis has consulted for numerous enterprises in the energy, health care, construction and transportation industries as a full-stack developer building custom solutions.
Mr. Matsis received a B.A. from The Pennsylvania State University with a focus on Software Engineering and Management.
Michael Poole serves as Managing Director, Investments
Michael Poole serves as a Managing Director on the Investment team. Prior to joining CIM, he was Managing Director, Credit for CircleUp, a data/insights and investment platform focused on consumer products and e-commerce. Mr. Poole was Head of Risk and General Partner for CircleUp Credit Advisors, a private credit fund providing working capital and lines of credit to emerging brands. Prior to CircleUp Mr. Poole spent 13 years with Columbia Threadneedle Investments in London as a Credit Analyst and Portfolio Manager responsible for high yield bond portfolios. Previously, he worked several years in investment banking with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette / Credit Suisse.
Mr. Poole received a M.B.A. from London Business School and a B.A. in Economics (Honors) from Western University.
Chin Xing Tan serves as a Manager, Risk & Analytics
Chin Xing Tan serves as a Manager on the Risk and Analytics team. Prior to joining CIM, he interned at UBS Wealth Management Singapore, analyzing ultra-high-net-worth clients' portfolios to identify alternative investment opportunities and conducting research on new investment vehicles for the Funds Specialist team. Mr. Tan also led an AIESEC local chapter in London, the largest student-run organization in the world, where he facilitated international student exchanges at 11 universities. During his term, he surpassed the national record for exchanges facilitated and was awarded the Excellence Award by the AIESEC U.K. National Team. Between his degrees, he conducted research as part of the International Big Data Project at Harvard University in partnership with the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Mr. Tan received a M.S. in Finance from the Simon Business School, University of Rochester and earned a B.S. from the University College London in Economics.
Dan Uttaro serves as Director, Operations
Dan Uttaro serves as a Director on the Operations team. Prior to joining CIM, he was Senior Account Manager at Apex Fund Services, where he was responsible for the administration of CIM's strategies, as well as the administration of hedge fund clients. Previously, he served as the oversight Senior Manager at Investors Bank & Trust Company, overseeing mutual fund clients. Mr. Uttaro has extensive experience in hedge fund administration and mutual fund accounting. He began his career at Investors Bank & Trust Company as an entry level mutual fund accountant.
Mr. Uttaro received a B.S. in Business Administration from Suffolk University.
CIM's advisory team is comprised of thought leaders in financial inclusion, economic policy, and impact investing.
Senior Fellow & Director
Bowman Cutter is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Next American Economy Project at the Roosevelt Institute. He was a managing director of Warburg Pincus, a major global private equity firm headquartered in New York City, between 1996 and 2009 where he served both as the firm's economist and as a leader in its international business, with particular reference to Asia.
Mr. Cutter joined Warburg Pincus directly from a senior economic policy role in the Administration of President William Clinton. He has served with distinction during two Democratic presidencies: at the National Economic Council, from 1992-1996, during the Clinton Presidency – as director of the National Economic Council and Deputy Assistant to the President; and at the Office of Management and Budget from 1976-1981, during the Carter Presidency, as Executive Director for Budget.
Mr. Cutter also served as leader of the OMB transition team after the election of President Obama. From 1981-1993, he was vice chairman and managing partner at Coopers & Lybrand, the global accounting and consulting firm that subsequently merged with Price Waterhouse. Mr. Cutter's central ublic policy interest has been the development and management of economic policy, and in particular the issues related to economic growth, development, and the alleviation of poverty.
He has worked extensively with the World Bank; and until recently was Chairman of the Board of CARE, the global development organization (where he was a member of the Board for 13 years); and is a founder and current Chairman of MicroVest, a leading global microfinance fund with assets under management now in excess of $100 million. In addition, Mr. Cutter is a member of the Governing Council of the IFMR Trust, in India, focusing upon market based solutions to the problems of severe poverty in India.
Mr. Cutter holds degrees from Harvard University, the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He is a member of the executive committee and immediate past co-chairman of the Committee for Economic Development, the leading business "think-tank" in the United States; a board member of Resources for the Future, an energy and environmental research institute; and a board member of the Russell Sage Foundation. In addition, he is a member of the New York Council on Foreign Relations.
Partner & Investment Committee Member
William Orum is a Partner and member of the Investment Committee of Capricorn Investment Group. One of the largest mission-aligned firms in the world, Capricorn Investment Group was born from a belief that sustainable investment practices can enhance risk-adjusted returns. Underlying this investment approach, Capricorn seeks to generate superior investment results by supporting the entrepreneurship and innovation required to create commercial solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. William joined the Firm in 2004 and has been based in its New York office since 2008. He has primary responsibility for leading marketable investments, portfolio construction, and risk management across asset classes.
Prior to Capricorn, he was an investment banker with Merrill Lynch in their global industries group focused on corporate finance and M&A advisory for technology clients.
Mr. Orum received a BA from Amherst College and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Co-Founder & Principal
Liesel Pritzker Simmons is Co-Founder and Principal of Blue Haven Initiative, an innovative family office that invests for profit and with purpose. An early leader in the impact investing space, BHI manages an international portfolio of diversified investments in traditional asset classes, groundbreaking impact business models, and nonprofit organizations. It applies a rigorous portfolio-management lens to its investments with the goal of generating measurable financial returns as well as societal and environmental benefits.
Liesel is also Co-Founder of IDP Foundation, a private Chicago-based foundation focused on achieving universal primary education. There, she helped create the IDP Rising Schools Program, which leverages microfinance networks to empower nearly 450 low-cost private schools — established and managed by local entrepreneurs — in some of the least-developed regions of the world.
Liesel is a sought-after speaker on the topic of impact investing. She serves on for-profit and nonprofit boards and investment committees of organizations including Impact Assets, Synergos, Toniic, Eco-Post, and the ImPact, a network of families committed to the conscientious stewardship of wealth. Liesel attended Columbia University in New York City, where she studied African History. She lives in the Boston area with her husband, Ian Simmons, and their daughter.
President & CEO
Michael Schlein is the President and CEO of Accion, a global nonprofit dedicated to building a financially inclusive world. A world pioneer in microfinance, Accion has helped build 64 microfinance institutions in 32 countries which currently reach millions of clients providing them with the financial tools that can help improve their lives.
Mr. Schlein brings nearly 30 years of extensive international banking, management and public service experience to his role as President and CEO of Accion. As President of Citigroup's International Franchise Management, Mr. Schlein managed the bank's network of 100 Chief Country Officers. Before that, he ran communications, philanthropy, government relations, branding and human resources for Citigroup. He served as Chief of Staff at the US Securities and Exchange Commission in the Clinton Administration and in New York's City Hall in the Dinkins and Koch Administrations. He began his career in investment banking.
In 2014, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Mr. Schlein to serve as the Chairman of the NYC Economic Development Corporation, which encourages economic growth throughout New York's five boroughs and facilitates investments that build capacity, generate prosperity, and catalyze the economic vibrancy of city life as a whole.
Mr. Schlein has graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.