Nancy was a Fellow with the Distinguished Careers Institute, Stanford University (2023-2025) and the former CEO of the Low-Income Investment Fund (LIIF), a leading community development financial institution operating in 31 states. During her 20-year tenure, she expanded LIIF’s assets from $35 million to $1 billion, with more than $3 billion invested in low-income communities nationwide.
Her career spans politics, public policy and social finance in domestic and international arenas. Internationally, she served for 20 years as a governing member of CGIAR, the world’s largest international research system dedicated to poverty alleviation, food security and climate change. A recognised thought leader in community development, Andrews pioneered the integration of early childhood development into place-based strategies. Her advocacy helped shape federal policy and led to the creation of the Capital Magnet Fund, which has deployed nearly $2 billion and leveraged over $16 billion in investments in underserved neighbourhoods. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Housing Visionary Award, National Housing Conference; Top 25 Most Disruptive Leaders, Living Cities; Lifetime Achievement Award, Opportunity Finance Network; National Policy Innovation Award, Opportunity Finance Network
While in Cambridge, Nancy is exploring the relationship between economic inequality, polarization and democracy erosion. She is working on several publications on inequality and the social finance movement in the United States. She is also assisting in establishing the social investing component of the Cambridge Centre on Philanthropy.
