The Team
Donna Gambrell
President & CEO
Appalachian Community Capital
Donna Gambrell
As President & CEO of Appalachian Community Capital, Donna J. Gambrell is responsible for attracting and directing investments to Community Development Financial Institutions (or CDFIs) and other mission-driven lenders in Appalachia. These lenders, in turn, use the investments to make loans to small business owners, including to minority- and women-owned businesses, in underserved communities throughout the region. Since it began lending in 2015, ACC has deployed over $18 million to help finance renewable energy projects, manufacturing sites, elder care facilities, restaurants, ecotourism, and downtown redevelopment, among other projects.
Ms. Gambrell serves on several CDFI boards. She is also the board chair of the African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs, a 501(c)(3) organization comprised of over 50 executives that was formed in 2018 to identify solutions to closing the racial wealth gap in the communities served by the members.
Clinton B. Gwin
ACC Board Chair
President
Pathway Lending
Clint Gwin
Marten Jenkins
Lori Chatman
Clyde Cornett
Grace Fricks
Ray Christman
Ray Christman chairs ACC’s Loan Committee. He is the former head of the Federal Home Loan Banks of Atlanta and Pittsburgh, and has chaired the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Capital Policy Committee since 2010, developing programs to expand capital access in the region. He has expert knowledge of the region, expertise in providing strategic guidance and in convening regional stakeholders. Ray Christman has extensive experience working in the fields of urban development, conservation, affordable housing and financial services. He has served in senior level positions in the for-profit, non-profit, and governmental sectors.
After retiring from the Home Loan Bank system in 2007, Mr. Christman returned to work associated with planning, public policy and community development. He managed former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin’s major transit expansion initiative, and provided consulting services to a number of local and national non-profits, including the Urban Land Institute. He also served for two years as Director of the Livable Communities Coalition of Metro Atlanta, a consortium of more than 50 organizations whose mission is to advocate for and promote smart growth and sustainable development policies and practices.
In 2011, Mr. Christman joined The Trust for Public Land as Senior Vice President and Division Director. TPL works to protect the places people care about and to create close-to-home parks. TPL also conserves working farms, ranches, and forests; lands of historical and cultural importance; rivers, streams, coasts, and watersheds. He has responsibility for overseeing field operations in 22 states in the Midwest and Southeast regions of the U.S., as well as two territories in the Caribbean. Mr. Christman has an undergraduate degree in Business from Florida State University and a Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Pittsburgh.
Matt Raker
Neill S. Wright
Neill S. Wright is President and CEO of Birmingham based Bronze Valley, an early stage venture- focused CDFI investment platform that supports high growth, innovation and technology companies led by diverse, underrepresented, and underestimated founders.
Neill has nearly 30 years of experience as an investor, entrepreneur and operating executive. Most recently, he served as Chairman, President and CEO of First Tuskegee Bank, a CDFI commercial bank. Neill successfully sold the bank to a southeast regional bank.
Prior to First Tuskegee Bank, Neill was a Founding Partner of Harbour Place Capital, a New York based investment banking consultancy that focused on advisory and capital raising for growth companies in various industries including energy, financial services and real estate. Previously, Neill worked as a banker at Citigroup and JPMorgan both in New York.
He holds a B.A. from The College of William & Mary in Virginia.
