Finance Trailblazer Donna Gambrell Receives 2025 Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Finance

Opportunity Finance Network gives its highest honor to Gambrell for her career-long commitment to expanding economic opportunity in rural, urban, and Native communities through community development finance 

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), the nation's leading network and intermediary focused on community development investment, presented Donna Gambrell with the 2025 Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Finance during The Opportunity Honors: Award Ceremony and Reception. The Gramlich Award is the community development finance industry's highest individual honor recognizing people of distinction and their impact on the community development financial institution (CDFI) industry. 

As Director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's CDFI Fund (2007–2013), Gambrell helped double funding through the flagship Financial Assistance Awards program and launched cornerstone initiatives—including the Capital Magnet Fund, Healthy Food Financing Initiative, and the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program—that expanded the reach of CDFIs nationwide. Following federal service, she joined OFN's Board of Directors in 2017 and served as Chair from 2020–2024, guiding the network through the COVID-19 response and sector stabilization. 

"Donna Gambrell has dedicated her career to expanding economic opportunity for communities long excluded from traditional finance," said Harold Pettigrew, President and CEO of OFN. "As a trailblazer and fierce advocate, Donna has grown and expanded the organizations she led, helping community development finance to reach more people and underinvested communities. Donna is a titan of the community development finance industry, and the impact of her work can be felt in almost every community across our nation." 

Today, as President & CEO of Appalachian Community Capital (ACC), Gambrell leads a membership network with more than 40 members managing $4 billion in assets and supporting 20,000 regional businesses. Under her leadership, ACC has advanced initiatives such as Opportunity Appalachia—helping 80+ communities raise over $160 million for priority projects—and launched the Green Bank for Rural America to catalyze climate-smart investment in rural markets. 

"Local communities know what they need to best support themselves, and CDFIs put the power back in their hands," said Gambrell. "That's what first drew me to community development finance; watching communities thrive and people build generational wealth because of CDFIs is what continues to inspire me many years later. It is an honor to receive the Gramlich Award, and I am grateful to my peers for this recognition of my career." 

Gambrell was also the first African American woman to lead the CDFI Fund—an important accomplishment that underscores a career defined by durable institutional achievements and industry-wide impact.

"Not only is Donna Gambrell a tireless champion for equitable community and business development, but she is a mentor and role model to so many in the industry," said Darrin Williams, CEO of Southern Bancorp, Inc. "Donna brings people together to help advance community development finance and bolster connections to support communities across all areas of the country. I am proud to call her a colleague, friend, and inspiration." 

About the Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Finance
Established in 2007, the Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Finance is the community development finance industry's highest individual honor. It is awarded annually at OFN's Annual Conference to individuals whose careers exemplify leadership, integrity, and a deep commitment to expanding economic opportunity. 

The spirit of the award is to celebrate people of distinction who have produced a body of work that sets them apart within the CDFI industry. These individuals have shaped the field through innovation, institution-building, and a relentless focus on impact—leaving a legacy that continues to influence the sector and the communities it serves. 

The award is named for Ned Gramlich, a staunch, longtime advocate for responsible finance. As the former Board of Governors' primary liaison to the Federal Reserve's Consumer Advisory Council, Gramlich advised on community development and consumer finance policy matters. He was an outspoken voice against predatory lending and a strong defender of the Community Reinvestment Act. He served on the OFN Board of Directors from October 2006 until his death in 2007. 

About Opportunity Finance Network 
Opportunity Finance Network (OFN)  is the nation's leading network and intermediary focused on community development investment, managing more than $1 billion in total assets and a membership of more than 490 community development financial institutions (CDFIs), which includes community development loan funds, credit unions, green banks, banks, minority depository institutions, and venture capital funds. Our network of CDFIs works to ensure communities left behind by mainstream finance have access to affordable, responsible financial products and services, with a deep focus on serving rural, urban, and Native communities across the United States. OFN is a trusted investment partner to the public, private, and philanthropic sectors – foundations, corporations, banks, government agencies, and others – and, for more than 40 years, has helped partners invest in communities to catalyze change and create economic opportunities for all.
Since its founding in 1986, OFN members have originated $124 billion in cumulative financing, helping to create or maintain nearly 3.4 million jobs, start or expand more than 1 million businesses and microenterprises, and support the development or rehabilitation of more than 3 million housing units and more than 15,000 community facility projects. 

SOURCE Opportunity Finance Network