Cynthia Wong, VP for Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley, will become the new head of LISC’s Bay Area office. In a message announcing her hire, LISC CEO Maurice A. Jones noted that Wong, who helped orchestrate LISC’s first bond offering earlier this year, is “a leading national voice on economic opportunity and community growth” and will bring a great depth of experience to the position.
I’m pleased to share good news from the West Coast! Cynthia Wong, a long-time LISC partner and a leading national voice on economic opportunity and community growth, will be joining LISC on December 1 as the new executive director of Bay Area LISC.
Some of you might know Cynthia from her work as a Vice President in Global Sustainable Finance at Morgan Stanley. She helped launch the company’s Institute for Sustainable Investing—the first of its kind on Wall Street—and where she worked on issues ranging from health and housing to economic development and jobs. Over the years, Cynthia has worked closely with our program, development, finance and communications teams, as well as with NEF and NMSC, to direct vital resources to our efforts. Notably, she helped lead LISC’s bond offering earlier this year, diving into our business model to highlight opportunities for investors. It was yet another pioneering effort for her work to connect impact-driven capital to valuable programs and projects.
Her experience spans both the corporate and philanthropic sectors. Before joining Morgan Stanley, Cynthia was a senior consultant at The Bridgespan Group where she worked with top foundations and other large nonprofits on billion-dollar efforts to invest, as well as helping lead training and convenings. Prior to that, she was with Marakon Associates, providing business consulting to Fortune 500 companies.
Hailing from Chicago’s South Side, Cynthia is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, with a bachelor’s degree in economics and dual concentrations in management and marketing. She speaks English, Cantonese and Spanish. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2013, she has volunteered her time with some of the very organizations LISC serves, including the Chinatown Community Development Center and Kitchen Table Advisors.
I can’t imagine a better candidate for the job, or better training to hit the ground running on day one! She will also have the good fortune to work with a remarkable local staff in the Bay Area, whose commitment and tenacity have kept critical work on track, even amid the heartbreaking loss of their executive director and friend, Margaret Gee.
Many thanks to those of you who helped in the search and interview process. Your contributions have been invaluable. Though it will be a number of weeks before Cynthia is in the Bay Area office, I hope you will warmly welcome her to the LISC family.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maurice A. Jones, President & CEO, LISC
Prior to joining LISC, Maurice was the Secretary of Commerce for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where he managed 13 state agencies focused on the economic needs in his native state. Before that, he was second in command at the U.S. Dept. of HUD, serving as deputy secretary in charge of operations. He has also been Commissioner of Virginia’s Dept. of Social Services and Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Gov. Mark Warner. At the U.S. Treasury Dept. during the Clinton Administration, he managed the CDFI fund. His private sector experience includes top positions at the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, a Richmond law firm and a private philanthropy investing in community-based efforts to benefit children in Washington, D.C.