Celina Peña

Celina Peña is chief program officer for LiftFund, a nationally recognized non-profit business lender in the US that provides business loans and support in thirteen U.S. states in the Southwest to underbanked small business owners. Peña’s experience includes lending, policy making, strategic planning, project management, fundraising, program development, relationship management, and communication designer. She is a former U.S. Small Business Administration women business center director, Vice President of Business Support, and Vice President of Lending. Previously she was part of the small business team at the City of San Antonio and also a policy analyst with Methodist Healthcare Ministries, a non-profit in San Antonio. Today Celina’s responsibilities include design and implementation of business education, designing and supporting lending and learning programs, implementing and overseeing employee training, managing and supporting MMS™, a division of LiftFund, which serves 19 CDFI partners as their loan origination and risk management system. She also contributes to program development, R&D, data quality and planning, staff engagement and training, and fundraising and communications efforts for LiftFund.