Expertise in Community Development Representative

Director
Center for Impact Finance, Carsey School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire
Durham, NH

Michael Swack is a professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he has appointments at the Carsey School of Public Policy and at the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics.  He directs the Center for Impact Finance and the Master’s Program in Community Development, a program designed for adult practitioners.  At Carsey, he is working on building scale in the community development finance sector, innovations in community development finance, microfinance, and sustainable energy financing.  He also directs the Financial Innovations Roundtable a collaboration with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.   Previously, Mr. Swack was the founder and former dean of the School of Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University.  He was the first chairman and served for seventeen years as a board member of the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority.  Mr. Swack also founded the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and was a founding board member of the National Association of Community Development Loan Funds (now the Opportunity Finance Network), a trade association of Community Development Finance Institutions.  Mr. Swack received his doctorate degree from Columbia University, his master’s degree from Harvard University, and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

CDFI Representative

President and Chief Executive Officer
Opportunity Finance Network
Washington, DC

Harold Pettigrew currently serves as president and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network, the leading national network of community development financial institutions serving rural, urban, and Native communities. Before that, he was CEO of Wacif, one of the Washington, DC, area’s leading CDFIs focused on access to capital and technical assistance to low- and moderate-income entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs of color. Mr. Pettigrew has spent his career in economic development, with nearly 20 years of experience in small business development, venture capital investing, transportation and transit, workforce development, and public sector management. Prior to Wacif, Mr. Pettigrew was the director of entrepreneurship at Prosperity Now, where he led the organization’s national efforts to advance policies and programs that increase business success for low-and moderate-income microbusiness owners throughout the United States. In addition, he has served as an advisor to the World Bank on private sector, small business development, and business licensing strategies and to the National League of Cities on equitable development strategies. His fellowships include OFN Opportunity Fellowship (2017) and Common Future Local Economy Fellowship (2016). He was a 2015 Next City Vanguard and is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. Mr. Pettigrew has a master’s degree in urban planning from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University, where he served as a member of the university’s Board of Trustees.

National Consumer or Public Interest Representative

President and Chief Executive Officer
National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders
Washington, DC

Marla Bilonick is the President and CEO of the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB) and also serves as CEO of NALCAB’s subsidiary asset management company Escalera Community Investments. Ms. Bilonick brings over 20 years of expertise in small business development, community-based financial services and international aid with an emphasis on Latin America and the US Latino population. Prior to joining NALCAB, she served as the Executive Director of the Latino Economic Development Center. Ms. Bilonick is a board member of the Opportunity Finance Network, the National Housing Trust and a founding member of the National League of Minority Voters’ board. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Arts in international economics and Latin American studies from Johns Hopkins University.

U.S. Department of the Interior Designee

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs
Washington, DC

Wizipan (Wee-zee-pan) Little Elk Garriott, an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior. He serves as the first assistant and principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs in the development and interpretation of policies affecting Indian Affairs bureaus, offices, and programs. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Garriott served as chief executive officer from 2012 to 2021 of the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation, an ecosystem of Tribal organizations serving the Rosebud Indian Reservation. In this capacity, Mr. Garriott led and started businesses and community-based programs, including a Native language immersion school and 1,500-head buffalo herd. Mr. Garriott’s previous federal service included serving under the leadership of Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk from 2009 to 2011. Mr. Garriott was born and raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation where he attended St. Francis Indian School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs (now Bureau of Indian Education) facility. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from Yale University. Mr. Garriott received his Juris Doctor degree in 2008 from the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College.

Dietrich Douglas is Legal Counsel to the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) and in that role functions as lead counsel on all legal matters related to the CDFI Fund's policies, programs, and administration. Prior to being named Legal Counsel in 2023, Mr. Douglas served as Branch Chief within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Medicare Operations Division where he supervised a team of attorneys handling claim appeals.

Before this, Mr. Douglas was Program Counsel with the Legal Services Corporation where he performed grant oversight and provided program guidance to federally-funded legal-aid organizations that serve low-income individuals. He has also served as Assistant Director with the New Jersey Department of Human Services, which manages federally-funded public assistance programs. There, he managed a legal unit that adopted regulations, drafted policy guidance, managed the third-party procurement process, and served as general counsel.

Mr. Douglas has more than 15 years of combined experience conducting grant oversight, managing legal and regulatory affairs in state government and practicing civil litigation. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Virginia Union University, and a Juris Doctorate from Howard University School of Law. He is a member of the New York State Bar.

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