Monica Edwards, Consultant
Ms. Edwards joined SDS in 2006, with over 15 years of experience in private equity and finance. She provides consulting services to SDS' New Markets Tax Credit fund--the National New Markets Fund. Ms. Edwards has extensive experience in structuring, negotiating, closing, and asset managing complex transactions. She assists developers in structuring transactions using New Market Tax Credits and other public subsidies. These public subsidies enable developers to fill gaps on projects that may not be feasible without subsidy, thereby extending their capacity. Ms. Edwards is also able to tap her considerable network of institutional investors to source all of the capital for these transactions. By acting in such capacity, she allows the developers to focus on what they do best, while insuring that their projects are funded.
Ms. Edwards has a passion for community development, and has made a personal and professional commitment to helping under-served markets access capital. Prior to joining SDS, she spent five years as a fund-of-funds manager for Citigroup, where she invested over $100 million in urban real estate private equity funds, and managed a $175 million portfolio of community-targeted investments. In her capacity at Citigroup, was responsible for their $100 million New Market Tax Credit Allocation, and she used it to create programming that would target real estate lending to developers that have traditionally lacked access to capital--specifically ethnic minorities and women. Ms. Edwards had the opportunity to assist in developing new private equity funds across the country, and won city citations for her efforts. Before her work at Citigroup, she spent three years at Enron where she assisted in building and investing a $40 million urban-focused private equity fund.
Ms. Edwards received her Masters in Business Administration from Clark Atlanta University, with an emphasis in Finance. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Princeton University, and also completed University of Southern California's certificate program in real estate development.
Ms. Edwards is committed to improving the well being of minority children living in socially and economically challenged communities. Through organizations like Junior League, 100 Black Women, and the Robert A. Toigo Foundation, she has worked to improve the circumstances of such children. One of her most personally rewarding accomplishments was working as a Board Member on Oakland's Jack London Aquatic Center to create the country's first primarily ethnic minority girl's rowing team. Made up of young women from Oakland's Inner City, the Junior Women's Crew rows on the Oakland Estuary, and rowed in their first official race in May 2004.