Florida Community Loan Fund Executive Director Receives Full Scholarship to Rollins Executive MBA Program

Ignacio Esteban was awarded the Martin L. Bell Scholarship for non-profit executives by the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College. Esteban is executive director of the Florida Community Loan Fund, the only federally certified community development financial institution in Florida. The Loan Fund provides capital and technical assistance to qualifying nonprofit organizations with insufficient access to capital from conventional sources. Esteban will begin the Crummer School’s Executive MBA (EMBA) program in July.

Having worked with hundreds of talented and dedicated nonprofit executives I recognize how competitive the selection process is. I also value the great responsibility that the selection committee has entrusted to Scholarship winners,” said Esteban. “As a Martin Bell Scholar I will work tirelessly to ensure that the academic and professional formation the Crummer School’s Executive MBA offers is put to use for the benefit of disadvantaged people and the nonprofits that serve them.”

Each year, in recognition of the importance of the non-profit sector to our community, the Crummer School awards the Martin L. Bell Scholarship to a senior-level employee of a non-profit organization. The scholarship provides full tuition, notebook computer, books, meals and an international study trip for a student enrolled in the Executive MBA program. Established in 1988 in honor of Dr. Martin L. Bell, former director of the Executive MBA program, the Bell Scholarship has been awarded to executives from 15 local charities.

Craig McAllaster, dean of the Crummer School said, “The Orlando not-for-profit sector has recognized the need for business-savvy management. Therefore, more executives from this sector are entering business schools to gain the knowledge necessary to operate productive, self-sufficient organizations.”

Florida Community Loan Fund, a nonprofit financial intermediary, provides capital and technical assistance to qualifying nonprofit organizations with insufficient access to capital from conventional lending sources. Established in 1994, with support from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the Catholic Bishops and the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund, the Loan Fund has a broad range of investors including most major financial institutions operating in Florida, individual investors, religious communities, national foundations and trade associations. The Loan Fund is among the fastest growing funds of its kind in the country and a pioneer in the community-development finance field in Florida. It is certified as Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and as a Community Development Entity (CDE). In 1999, the Loan Fund became the first statewide CDFI to receive an award from the US Department of Treasury’s CDFI Fund and in May 2004, it was the first Florida-based organization to receive an allocation under the New Markets Tax Credit Program. Since it began lending in 1996, the Loan Fund has delivered more than $20 million, and leveraged an additional $100 million from other public and private sources, to support nonprofit organizations engaged in community development efforts in Central Florida and statewide. To learn more, please visit www.fclf.org.