Board of Directors
Julian Bond
Mr. Bond became Chairman of the Board of the NAACP in 1998, following decades of leadership service in promoting civil rights and economic justice. His experience includes 20 years in the Georgia General Assembly. In the Georgia Senate, Mr. Bond became the first black chair of the Fulton County Delegation and chair of the Consumer Affairs Committee. During his legislative tenure, he was sponsor or co-sponsor of more than 60 bills that became law. Mr. Bond’s career also includes service as a university professor, writer and television commentator. The holder of 21 honorary degrees, he is a Distinguished Professor at American University in Washington, D.C., and a Professor in history at the University of Virginia.
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Martin Eakes
Mr. Eakes is CEO and founder of Self-Help, a community development lender that was instrumental in establishing the Center for Responsible Lending. Self-Help has provided over $3.8 billion in financing to 40,000 homebuyers, small businesses and nonprofits. Mr. Eakes began his career in 1980, after graduating from Yale Law School and the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs. As a fledgling attorney practicing in Durham, N.C., Mr. Eakes started small-scale initiatives to help low-income North Carolinians buy homes and start businesses – work that ultimately evolved into Self-Help. Mr. Eakes has received a number of awards for his public service, including the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1996.
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Wade Henderson
Mr. Henderson is the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the nation’s oldest and most diverse coalition of civil rights groups that includes over 180 organizations. Prior to his current role, he was the Washington Bureau Director for the NAACP. He was also previously the Associate Director of the Washington national office of the American Civil Liberties Union, where he began his career as a legislative counsel. Mr. Henderson serves as the Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Professor of Public Interest Law at the David A. Clarke School of Law, University of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. He has received numerous awards, including the prestigious 2003 Congressional Black Caucus Chair’s Award.
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Bonnie Howard
Ms. Howard is Senior Associate with the Annie E. Casey Foundation in the Family Economic Success Unit and has been active in creating access to economic opportunities for families living in tough neighborhoods. At AECF, Ms. Howard has worked to develop and support local Earned Income Tax Credit coalitions. Ms. Howard has prior experience in marketing with IBM and Houghton Mifflin Company and with working with public schools on providing educational opportunities that will prepare students for successful careers.
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Don Kidd
Mr. Kidd is President and CEO of Western Commerce Bank in Carlsbad, New Mexico and was a state Senator in New Mexico for 12 years. Mr. Kidd was co-author of New Mexico’s predatory lending law and has testified in state legislatures on mortgage lending abuses. Mr. Kidd is also a member and past president of the New Mexico Bankers Association.
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Nic Retsinas
Mr. Retsinas is the director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, which conducts research to examine and address the most critical housing and community development issues in America. Prior to his Harvard appointment, Retsinas served as Assistant Secretary for Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner at the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and as Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision. Mr. Retsinas serves on numerous boards and has won multiple awards for his service, including induction in the National Housing Hall of Fame and was named one of the most influential people in real estate by the National Association of Realtors, in home building by Builder Magazine, and in multifamily housing by Multi-Housing News.
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Ira Rheingold
Mr. Rheingold is Executive Director and General Counsel of the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA), an organization dedicated to protecting consumers from unfair and deceptive business practices. Before coming to NACA, Mr. Rheingold worked at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago as a supervisory attorney in charge of the Foreclosure Prevention and Senior Housing Projects. Mr. Rheingold has testified before Congress numerous times on mortgage lending and consumer finances issues.
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Shanna Smith is President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. Ms Smith has been an expert witness in several fair housing cases and consults with private fair housing agencies in the development of testing for rental, sales, lending, and insurance complaints. Over the past sixteen years, she has testified before Congressional Banking committees about policies and practices that violate the Fair Housing Act involving lending, private mortgage insurance, and homeowners insurance. Prior to joining NFHA, Ms Smith was Executive Director of the Toledo Fair Housing Center for fifteen years. During her tenure, the Center worked on ground-breaking investigations and litigation of mortgage lending discrimination cases as well as testing and litigation of cases involving sexual harassment in housing. Ms Smith has written articles for the lending industry illustrating policies and practices that violate fair lending laws and regulations, and with Cathy Cloud, she has co-authored chapters in two books, one on mortgage lending discrimination issues and one on insurance redlining issues.
