Spotlight: Kim Buttemer, Chief Operating Officer

Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise with Capital Impact Partners. 

Earlier this year we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under a single strategy and leadership team. 

In this Spotlight, meet Kim Buttemer. Kim is our Chief Operating Officer. 

Kim is responsible for day-to-day operational oversight, strategic planning, information technology, and project management.  

Take a moment to watch the video or read the transcript below to learn more about her background, her role with our new enterprise, and some fun facts!

Q: What is your role with our new enterprise?

A: I’m the chief operations officer of the new alliance. And in that role, I get to work with department managers from a wide variety of  parts of our company that make that work. That includes lending operations and servicing, our portfolio and risk management functions. The credit philosophies of the organization and the credit officers reside in our department. All the corporate services that keep offices humming and people working efficiently, our IT department, and one of my favorite parts of it is running The LAB and all of our strategic initiatives.

Q: What excites you the most about our new enterprise?

A: Well, I think what excites me the most about the new alliance is this renewed energy among a larger group, double size, of really capable, interesting, and intelligent people that have come together with similar values and a lot of energy. You know, what keeps us here is the work we do. And, the new alliance in and of itself is great at creating more opportunities to make impact. I have just really enjoyed the opportunity to think bigger, to dream bigger, to innovate wider, and to bring the best of both of these organizations into a new organization that can do this at the scale that we need as a country.

Q: What do you think is key to both meeting our mission and operating as a sustainable business?

A: Well, sustainability is really an important part for me. I think I’m, you know, my objective is to prove that you can do well by doing good in the world, that they are not mutually exclusive. So typically we’ve found that that is the, um, the intersection of being both effective and efficient. So, I think that in the delivery of all of our products, our programs, the services that we offer, we can constantly look for new ways to be even more efficient and more effective in order to maintain that sustainability goal. That’s going to mean we’re going to be using, you know, a lot of technology. Very excited about the future of deploying more technology into everything we do, unifying the technology across the new alliance, and then also customer service new methods, potentially. You know, it’s been very interesting in my role to see how similar outcome, different processes towards customer service for all of our borrowers. So, we’re working with this amazing team to figure out ways we can make it, elevate it across the whole new alliance. Again, just it’s, it’s like our marketing team put together: Stronger Together.

Q: What aspects of our new strategy will make the biggest impact for communities?

A: I think, going back to the beginning of the concept of the new alliance, it was the 1+1=3. So, just community development and just economic development yield a lot of great impact, but when you put those together, we can go in and exponentially create more. And that is what fuels everyone that’s in this work that we do. So, this coming together has really allowed that to happen.

Q: What was your most memorable vacation?

A: Well, I’ve been really lucky to have a lot of really fun vacations. Most memorable for me was a hike through New Zealand where, you know, I am not a backpacker just for the record, please don’t ever invite me to backpack. That was one of those where I carried a day pack and my stuff moved along. So, yeah. Did the Milford track in New Zealand with a group of girlfriends and that was really spectacular.

Q: We know you love the holidays. Do you have some favorite tips to get into the spirit? 

A: Yeah, I love the holidays. I think, you know, my tips about that are just to like, to be in the moment through the whole holiday season and enjoy every minute of it. And just look at the joy of that different thing you’re celebrating, whether it’s Halloween, whether it’s Thanksgiving, which actually might be my very favorite holiday because you don’t have to buy gifts for people. And then, whether it’s Christmas or Hanukkah or anything else, and that towards the end of the calendar year, it’s fun. Love to decorate, love to bake different things. I’m a big baker, so for me, Christmas cookies and cakes is just heaven on earth. So, yeah, that’s kind of, those are my tips. Bake more, drink more, smile more.