Spotlight: Natalie Nickens Gunn, Chief Financial Officer
Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise.
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.
We believe that in order to ensure that traditional and mainstream financial systems are equitably serving Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities to drive solutions that support economic mobility and wealth creation, we must think differently. This series is designed to introduce you to the many people that are working hard to drive change and create a powerful new voice for communities and small businesses.
Our first Spotlight is on Natalie Nickens Gunn. Natalie is the Chief Financial Officer for CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners.
Natalie has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services and mortgage industries. She is responsible for formulating and executing both organizations’ financial road map, capital base expansion, and investor relations. She also manages the overall direction for accounting, tax, audit, treasury and financial planning and analysis.
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 am the Chief Financial Officer, and I am primarily responsible for setting and executing on the overall strategic financial strategy for the organizations. This includes capital raising, which ensures that the organizations have adequate capital to do the work that we want to do in order to meet our mission. I focus on formulating that strategy and making sure we’re on target with executing.
Q: What most excites you about uniting CDC Small business finance and Capital Impact Partners?
A: For me, it’s all about the people. The work is super exciting, but I think what’s more exciting about the alliance is the additional people that I get to work with. For example, the integration of the fantastic finance teams across both organizations has gone very well. Everyone has pitched in and taken the opportunity to learn from each other. I think for me, that’s what is really compelling, is being able to learn the businesses. The revenue models across the organizations are very different, but very compatible. So there’s a big learning curve there, but it’s really exciting.
Q: What role do you see investors playing in the shaping of our organization’s future?
A: I think investors could really keep an open mind. We’ve had a lot of interest from investors to understand what the alliance is all about. It’s going to take an open mind that doesn’t think about necessarily what each organization was, but what we can be together and how we can partner with those investors to really increase the impact that we’re looking for.
Q: What are three things that people should understand about the Capital Impact Partners investment note?
A: The note is our largest source of capital. It’s very flexible and we can use it for a variety of purposes across the organization, which is really helpful. You can purchase it for a minimum of a thousand dollars, so we target all investors from retail to larger financial institutions. It is also S&P rated, which is very unique for an organization like ours.
Q: Who are some of your role models?
A: My parents, they are really truly phenomenal, giving people. My dad was in the military for over 30 years, my mom and my siblings, and I all traveled across the world. It took a lot for the two of them to remain flexible and continue to raise us by not missing a beat in our social lives, etc. My mom’s always been an educator and my dad went into education post retirement. They continued to give back to the schools that they worked, in the communities and beyond. I really admire them for that.
Q: How would you describe the perfect weekend?
A: It would be fun in the sun. I love the sun. I love the beach. Just laying back in a chair with a cold drink, magazine, and crossword puzzle. I love crossword puzzles. If it gets too warm, I would scoot my chair up to put my feet in the water and lay right back. If I could do that day in, day out, and maybe do my work out on the beach… that would be wonderful.
