Michael Swack

Michael Swack is a senior fellow at the Center for Impact Finance (CIF) at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and one of the leading architects of the US community development finance field.

He founded CIF (originally the Center for Social Enterprise and Finance) in 2009 as part of the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy, led its growth for 15 years, and stepped down as director in 2024, continuing to teach in the Master’s in Community Development program he created for adult practitioners. In a career spanning more than four decades, Michael has helped design and advance many of the institutions, policies, and financing models that support economic opportunity in underserved communities. He has served as a founding board member of the Opportunity Finance Network, helping draft the legislation that created the CDFI Fund, and founding the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund—one of the nation’s pioneering CDFIs—where he served as founding president and remains a board member. He was also the first chairman and a 17-year board member of the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority.

His research and advisory work focuses on community development finance, impact investing, affordable housing, small business development, and climate finance. In recognition of his contributions to the field, he received the Opportunity Finance Network’s Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Finance in 2019 and was appointed by President Joe Biden to the US Treasury Department’s Community Development Advisory Board in 2021. Michael holds a PhD from Columbia University, a master’s from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.