Staff

Donna J. Gambrell is a steadfast advocate for lifting up and revitalizing our most vulnerable, low-wealth communities. She is also the longest-serving and first African-American woman to be appointed director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund).

During her tenure from 2007 to 2013, the CDFI Fund experienced significant growth, more than doubling funding under its flagship program. It strongly supported a CDFI industry responsible for providing affordable capital, credit, and financial services to low-income neighborhoods. The CDFI Fund also designed and administered a number of new initiatives targeted to underserved markets, including the Capital Magnet Fund, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, and the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program.

She is currently a visiting, nonresident scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. She is also a board member for Southern Bancorp Inc., in Little Rock, which is one of the nation's largest CDFIs and the model upon which the CDFI industry was founded. Gambrell also speaks and consults on issues related to consumer protection and community and economic development.

Previously, Gambrell served in several executive positions at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), including deputy director for compliance and consumer protection, where she was responsible for overseeing the FDIC's national compliance bank examinations, as well as the agency’s community affairs, consumer affairs, and deposit insurance programs. Prior to joining the FDIC, she served at the Resolution Trust Corporation, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Gambrell received a bachelor of science from Towson University in Baltimore and a master of science from New York University.