Debra Schwartz
Director, Program-Related Investments

Email: dschwartz at macfound dot org

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.

Allison Clark
Program Officer, Program-Related Investments

Email: aclark at macfound dot org

Allison Clark is a Program Officer in the Program-related Investments (PRI) area. Her responsibilities include oversight of investments made through the Foundation’s $150-million affordable rental housing preservation initiative, Window of Opportunity. She also works on the continued improvement of the PRI risk rating and portfolio management systems.

Allison has worked in affordable housing, economic development and commercial real estate for over 15 years. Prior to joining the Foundation, Allison worked as a Senior Underwriting Manager in the Community Lending Group (formerly the American Communities Fund) at Fannie Mae, where she underwrote and closed over $150 million in debt and equity transactions for affordable housing developments. She also worked for eight years at Bank One, which she joined via the First Scholars Program. At the point of her departure, she was a Vice President in the Community Development Real Estate group. Before moving to Chicago, Allison participated in the Urban Fellows Program in New York City, where she worked as a project manager at the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Clark graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe College with a Bachelors degree in government, and earned a Master of Management degree from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Louise Powell
Staff Assistant