LISC names CEOs from Greater Cincinnati Foundation, APM to board

Merchant and Ruiz to help guide LISC's work revitalizing troubled neighborhoods

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has elected Kathryn E. Merchant, president/CEO of The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and Nilda Ruiz, president and CEO of Philadelphia's Asociacion Puertorriquenos en Marcha (APM), to its board of directors.

LISC is a national nonprofit that has invested more than $12 billion to create economic opportunities in low-income communities and help families live safer and healthier.

Prior to joining The Greater Cincinnati Foundation in 1997, Merchant was the director of The Pew Charitable Trusts' Neighborhood Preservation Initiative and a partner in the New Haven-based consulting firm of Holt, Wexler & Merchant. She currently serves on the boards of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (Chair), the National Center for Arts and Technology, the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, and the Metropolitan Club.

Ruiz's took the helm at APM—a top community development corporation in Philadelphia—in 2005 following her years of work at the East Coast National Council of La Raza that began in 1999. She has advised the Obama Administration on education and housing issues, and is a member of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. APM is the lead agency for Philadelphia LISC's Sustainable Community Initiative in the Eastern North section of Philadelphia.  

"Kathy and Nilda are innovators, both leading organizations that are critical to the future of healthy communities in Cincinnati and Philadelphia," said Michael Rubinger, LISC president and CEO. "They know LISC well from our many years of collaboration. We know them too for their keen sense of purpose and clear focus on real-world outcomes that help people live better. They are tremendous additions to our board."

Merchant and Ruiz are joining a 23-member LISC board that includes top officials from national foundations, corporations, community-based organizations, law enforcement and local government. 

The board is instrumental in helping guide LISC's Building Sustainable Communities work to transform dangerous and deteriorating neighborhoods into good places to live, work, do business and raise families.

About LISC
LISC combines corporate, government and philanthropic resources to help nonprofit community development corporations revitalize distressed neighborhoods. Since 1980, LISC has raised $12 billion to build or rehab 289,000 affordable homes and develop 46 million square feet of retail, community and educational space nationwide. Since 1994, LISC support has leveraged nearly $40 billion in total development activity. For more information, visit www.lisc.org.

Contact:
Colleen Mulcahy, LISC Communications
312-342-8244 or [email protected]

SOURCE LISC