Lisa Mensah is President and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), the nation’s leading network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). OFN helps CDFIs leverage public funding with private investment from mainstream financial institutions, socially responsible investors, and philanthropic partners in underserved communities across America. Mensah joined OFN in March 2017.
In 2014, Mensah was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the US Senate for the position of Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development. Before this appointment, Mensah was the founding Executive Director of the Initiative on Financial Security at The Aspen Institute. Mensah began her career in commercial banking at Citibank before joining the Ford Foundation to manage the country's largest philanthropic grant and loan portfolio of investments in rural America.
Mensah holds an M.A. from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of The Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. from Harvard University.