Full Name
Luz Urrutia
Job Title
CEO
Company
Accion Opportunity Fund
Speaker Bio
Luz Urrutia joined Accion Opportunity Fund as CEO in 2017, working to build a more inclusive financial system. In her role, Luz is helping to scale the non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to deepen its impact in California and expand its lending nationwide. Already the nation’s leading
non-profit small business lender – with $195 million in small business loans under management – Luz will attract the capital, philanthropic funds and partnerships to expand the product offerings and financial health programs that will quadruple Opportunity Fund’s impact nationally by 2024.
Under Luz’s leadership, in March, 2020, Opportunity Fund and Accion, The US Network, joined forces to establish Accion Opportunity Fund, the first organization focused on a national microlending platform to meet the credit needs of under invested small businesses – developing new products, establishing new partnerships, promoting research and financial education, and leveraging digital technologies and data analytics to support mission-driven lending.
Luz has spent her career in banking and financial services, particularly in underserved markets, and has won numerous awards for her leadership in the field. She began her career at Wachovia, where she spent 18 years, before founding El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad, a community bank based in Atlanta, Georgia serving the underbanked LatinX population. Luz served as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2001 - 2013. As VP of Retail Sales and Services at Oportun in California, from 2013-2016, Luz’s
team expanded Oportun’s footprint across five states. In 2016, Luz joined Dollar Financial Group as CEO for the Americas to help transform the organization into a responsible consumer finance lender for underserved communities.
Luz has served on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board, the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank, and on the Board of the Financial Health Network. Currently, she is a Board member for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and a member of the Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. Most recently, she received the Latino Leadership Award by the Silicon Valley Business Journal and was one of Forbes 50 over 50:
Investment.
Luz received a B.S., magna cum laude, in Business Administration and Finance and an M.B.A., both from Georgia State University. Luz lives in Mountain View, California.
non-profit small business lender – with $195 million in small business loans under management – Luz will attract the capital, philanthropic funds and partnerships to expand the product offerings and financial health programs that will quadruple Opportunity Fund’s impact nationally by 2024.
Under Luz’s leadership, in March, 2020, Opportunity Fund and Accion, The US Network, joined forces to establish Accion Opportunity Fund, the first organization focused on a national microlending platform to meet the credit needs of under invested small businesses – developing new products, establishing new partnerships, promoting research and financial education, and leveraging digital technologies and data analytics to support mission-driven lending.
Luz has spent her career in banking and financial services, particularly in underserved markets, and has won numerous awards for her leadership in the field. She began her career at Wachovia, where she spent 18 years, before founding El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad, a community bank based in Atlanta, Georgia serving the underbanked LatinX population. Luz served as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2001 - 2013. As VP of Retail Sales and Services at Oportun in California, from 2013-2016, Luz’s
team expanded Oportun’s footprint across five states. In 2016, Luz joined Dollar Financial Group as CEO for the Americas to help transform the organization into a responsible consumer finance lender for underserved communities.
Luz has served on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board, the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank, and on the Board of the Financial Health Network. Currently, she is a Board member for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and a member of the Community Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco. Most recently, she received the Latino Leadership Award by the Silicon Valley Business Journal and was one of Forbes 50 over 50:
Investment.
Luz received a B.S., magna cum laude, in Business Administration and Finance and an M.B.A., both from Georgia State University. Luz lives in Mountain View, California.
