Debra D. Schwartz is Director of Program-related Investments for the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation where she oversees a $300-million portfolio of below-market loans and investments used principally by economic development and affordable housing organizations. She also co-leads the Foundation’s $150-million national initiative, Window of Opportunity: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing.
Schwartz joined MacArthur in 1995 as Senior Associate to the President. She became a member of the Program on Human and Community Development in 2000 and assumed her current post in 2002. Previously, Schwartz was an investment banker in public finance for John Nuveen & Co. where she structured tax-exempt bond issues for municipalities and nonprofit health care organizations. From 2002 through 2006, she served as one of nine presidential appointees to the US Treasury Department’s Community Development Advisory Board. She is a founding member of the national PRI Makers Network steering committee and frequently speaks at philanthropy-related meetings on the topics of social enterprise, nonprofit sustainability and program-related investments.
Schwartz graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in history. She earned a master’s degree in finance and nonprofit management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Erika C. Poethig Associate Director of Housing
Email: epoethig at macfound dot org
Erika Poethig is Associate Director for Housing in the Program on Human & Community Development. Her primary focus is on regional policy and practice, housing policy and research, and on the special initiative for the preservation of affordable rental housing.
Before coming to the Foundation in 2001, Poethig was Assistant Commissioner for Policy, Resource and Program Development at the City of Chicago's Department of Housing, where she directed the department's city, state and federal policy agendas. Poethig oversaw staff with responsibilities for policy and research, program evaluation and program development. She developed the Mayor's campaign to prevent foreclosures and stabilize communities and city support for a state-issued tax credit for donations to not-for-profit organizations developing affordable housing. Previously, she was Associate Project Director of the Metropolis Project, which resulted in the creation of the Chicago Metropolis 2020 agenda for regional leadership around the major issues faced by the metropolitan Chicago area.
Poethig was a Phi Beta Kappa from the College of Wooster, a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Vienna, and received her master's in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, with concentrated coursework in Urban Poverty and Inequality.
Spruiell D. White Senior Program Officer
Email: swhite at macfound dot org
Spruiell D. White is a Senior Program Officer in the Program on Human and Community Development responsible for grantmaking in the areas of Public Housing and Community Change. He joined the Foundation as a Program Officer in 1995, and was promoted to his current position in 1998.
Prior to his arrival at the Foundation, White served in a number of executive leadership positions for the Chicago Jobs Council, the United Negro College Fund and Urban League affiliates in San Francisco and Seattle. He is a founding member of Chicago Blacks in Philanthropy and a board advisor to the Illinois Ethnic Coalition and the Center for Impact Research. White has served as a mayoral appointee to the Private Industry Council and the Empowerment Zone Coordinating Council.
White received his undergraduate degree in English literature from Luther College, and his Masters in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago.
Mijo Vodopic Program Officer
Email: mvodopic at macfound dot org
Mijo comes to the Foundation from the Government Accountability Office, where he was a senior analyst on the Financial Markets and Community Investment team, led evaluations of small business loans to assess the performance of the Small Business Administration, analyzed the impact of the Basel II Accord on global and domestic competition in banking, and reviewed the uses and effects of eminent domain actions on property owners and communities. Previously, Mijo was the Director of Property and Asset Management at Heartland Housing Incorporated, here in Chicago, where he managed a portfolio of eight affordable rental properties totaling 700 units and ensured that they were professionally managed, properly maintained and fiscally sustainable. While at Heartland Housing, he also participated in developing tenant selection plans for several HOPE VI sites and collaborated with social service providers to meet resident needs.
Mijo is a very active volunteer, especially within his cultural community, where he has served as the president of the Croatian Cultural Center. In addition, he has been the executive director of the Chicago Chamber Choir, volunteer coordinator at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, and continues to volunteer at Misericordia, which serves individuals with developmental disabilities. Earlier in his life, Mijo was a Jesuit Volunteer for the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness where he advocated on behalf of homeless families during welfare reform. Mijo graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University with a double major in History and Philosophy and received his Master’s in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago in 2000. While in graduate school he completed a project examining the prospects of Venezuela’s emerging market economy.
