Cheila Fernandez

As Chief Operating Officer, Cheila Fernandez provides strategic and operational leadership to ensure that priorities and allocation of resources align with the mission, vision and corporate objectives of Reinvestment Fund.  She leads a shared services model of experts with capabilities that facilitate the organization’s growth,  execution of its strategy and cohesion across business offerings.  Ms. Fernandez is responsible for ensuring that Reinvestment Fund’s people, systems and processes are well-equipped to serve our clients and accelerate our mission to build strong, healthy and more equitable communities.

Prior to her current role, Ms. Fernandez was the Chief Compliance and Risk Officer at Reinvestment Fund and was responsible for the design and implementation of sustainable and adaptable risk frameworks and programs.  She is currently also the Chief Compliance Officer of Reinvestment Fund Impact Advisers and supports the Board as Corporate Secretary.

Ms. Fernandez joined Reinvestment Fund in 2018 because of its strong history and commitment to enabling equity and growth in communities like the one that she grew up in North Philadelphia. She is passionate about enabling communities to lead within and is energized by the opportunities to enable those solutions through her work at Reinvestment Fund.

Prior to joining the organization, she worked at Deloitte & Touche for 14 years, where she led complex strategic, regulatory and operational changes at large domestic and foreign banking organizations. She began her career during the 2004 implementation of Sarbanes Oxley, wherein she specialized in financial reporting and operational risks and controls, including audits of supporting information systems. In 2010, she became Chief of Staff within the newly-formed Risk Advisory space where she led the creation and management of the U.S., and later Latin American, growth strategy.

Ms. Fernandez is active in diversity and inclusion efforts, including as founding board member and first vice president of the Association of Latin Professionals in Accounting and Finance (ALPFA) in Philadelphia, and member of the Women in America mentoring program.