After a nationwide search, the CRA is excited to announce that it has chosen Lobelia Cole-Smith as the agency’s first Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Cole-Smith brings 34 years of finance, grant management and nonprofit leadership experience to the CRA. As the former Director of Operations and at another time, Director of Finance, at Shelby Residential and Vocational Services (SRVS), Cole-Smith is well prepared to work towards meeting a community’s unique and specific needs.
Born in the Uptown TIF District on Leath St., and raised on Breedlove, Cole-Smith has a personal connection with serving the area. “My mother still lives in the neighborhood and when I started to see positive changes, I immediately thought some developer must be pushing people out. To my surprise, I learned that was not the case, the CRA was working to keep people in the neighborhood. That’s amazing” she said.
The CRA administers Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to specific districts. Funds are dispersed to focus on blight remediation, infrastructure improvements and affordable housing, thereby encouraging reinvestment in neighborhoods as directed by approved, comprehensive community plans.
Cole-Smith said, “Taxpayers want to know that their money is going towards positive development in their community and that’s what’s happening with the CRA. I could not have written a better next chapter for my career than joining this team.”
CRA President Andrew Murray commented, “The CRA works with complicated financial mechanisms and is subject to extensive reporting requirements, and we are excited to have someone of Cole-Smith’s caliber to assist in leading our agency. She has extensive financial management experience, having managed multi-million dollar budgets and federal, state, local, and philanthropic grants for social services and supportive housing nonprofit organizations.”