Luz Urrutia - Latina of Influence

December 17, 2019

On November 9, 2019, Silicon Valley Latino in partnership with Santa Clara University and numerous sponsors, held the 2019 Latino Leaders Awards Ceremony in which 20 remarkable individuals were featured. Over the next few weeks, we will post features on these honorees. We kick-off this series featuring CEO of Opportunity Fund, Luz Urrutia.

Luz Urrutia joined Opportunity Fund as C.E.O. in 2017, working to build a more inclusive financial system. In this role, Luz is helping to scale the non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to deepen its impact in California and expand its reach nationwide. Already the nation’s largest non-profit small business lender – with over $180 million in small business loans under management – Luz will attract the capital and raise the philanthropic funds that will quadruple Opportunity Fund’s impact by 2023.

Luz has spent her career in banking and financial services, particularly in under-served markets, and has won numerous awards for her leadership. She began her career at Wachovia, where she spent 18 years, before founding El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad, a financial institution based in Georgia serving the under-banked Latino population. Luz served as President and Chief Operating Officer from 2001 - 2013. As VP of Retail Sales and Services at Oportun from 2013-2016, Luz’s team expanded Oportun’s footprint across five states. In 2016, Luz joined Dollar Financial Group as CEO for the Americas to help transform the organization into a responsible consumer finance business for underserved communities.

Luz has served on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board; the Center for Financial Services Innovation; the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank. Most recently, she received the Latino Leadership Award by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Luz received a B.S., magna cum laude, in Business Administration and Finance and an M.B.A., both from Georgia State University.