Finance

When Elizabeth Ortiz started at the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), it had long since plateaued. The organization had a budget of only $7 million and a staff of 45, but was already stretched beyond capacity. It needed a leader.

What made Elizabeth different was that she was an outsider to non-profits, she had spent her entire career in the for-profit corporate world. With years spent at Citigroup and other financial organizations, Ortiz became "sector-switcher," and used her experience for good at NFF. With a banking career that included a national leadership role in community development, overseeing loans, financial consulting, and capital investment -- she had all the skills she would need to turn around NFF.

Elizabeth owes her success in the organization to her ability inspire cultural change within NFF. She explains how she was able to make major changes at NFF without changing what she loved about the organization:

"I just couch things in terms of, 'If we want to accomplish this objective, this is what we need to do - some of it's what we're already doing and what we're good at, and some of it requires us to work differently. But if we want to get there, here's what we've got to do,'"

NFF has benefit greatly from Elizabeth's private-sector experience: since 2004, NFF has expanded from 45 employees to 90, and has doubled its balanced sheets, lending more than $50 million to non-profit organizations in 2009 (up from $20 million in 2004.)

Although it's a much bigger staff than when she started, Ortiz's corporate management experience has allowed the organization to flourish in its growth and set it on a path for continued success.