After 17 years at the helm, Sherry Riva, the Founder and CEO of Compass Working Capital (“Compass”), a national nonprofit financial services organization, announced that she will be stepping down from her role as CEO in January 2022. The organization’s Board of Directors has unanimously approved the appointment of Markita Morris-Louis, Esq., as the organization’s next CEO. Ms. Morris-Louis currently serves as the organization’s Chief Strategy Officer.
Compass is a leading provider of financial coaching and savings programs for families with low incomes, with a focus on serving Black and Latinx mothers who live in subsidized housing. Since 2010, the organization has worked to expand the scope and impact of the federal Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program, the federal government’s largest – and least well-known – asset-building program for families with low incomes. Rigorous, independent evaluation of Compass’ model for the FSS program has found that it has a significant and durable impact on the economic mobility and financial security of participating families. Amid the ongoing financial struggles of so many families due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the persistence of major gaps in wealth across racial and gender lines, the organization continues to pursue an ambitious growth strategy to expand access to its model for the FSS program on a national scale.
Under Ms. Riva’s leadership, the organization has grown from an initial pilot program serving nine families in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, to a nationally recognized organization serving thousands of families across Greater Boston, Philadelphia, and other communities in southern New England each year. Compass has also emerged as a national leader shaping FSS policy and practice.
“It has been an honor to lead and build Compass, together with our clients, team, and board, over the last 17 years,” says Ms. Riva. “Compass has always been defined by our shared commitment to our mission, and today I am as hopeful as I have ever been about our future. Markita is the right next CEO to lead Compass through its next phase of growth and impact. She combines a bold, inspiring, and equity-focused vision with a tireless focus on execution. And she leads with strength, optimism, and grace, and always by example. It is a blessing beyond measure to pass the baton to Markita. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Compass.”
Ms. Morris-Louis has served the organization as its founding Chief Strategy Officer since 2019. Prior to joining the Compass team, she was the organization’s main partner in its first ever major expansion outside southern New England, when Compass brought its FSS program model to Philadelphia in 2018. Ms. Morris-Louis has a deep connection to and alignment with Compass’ mission, and she has been at the center of its growth strategy and highest stakes projects throughout her tenure.
Ms. Morris-Louis comes to the CEO role with over 20 years of expertise and experience as an organizational, community, and thought leader, in the areas of asset-building, financial coaching, strategy, innovation, housing, legal assistance, and more. Before joining Compass as Chief Strategy Officer, she served as Interim Executive Director of the Arts + Business Council for Greater Philadelphia and as Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Clarifi, a nonprofit housing and financial counseling agency. A lawyer by training, Ms. Morris-Louis spent nearly a dozen years in roles related to real estate law, impact litigation, and community development, including several years advocating for fair lending, housing, and employment practices, and supporting affordable housing transactions.
“The opportunity to serve Compass as its CEO is the culmination of my professional and personal commitment to justice and equity for communities of color with low incomes,” says Ms. Morris-Louis. “When I first met Sherry several years ago, I felt a deep alignment with the mission and vision of Compass and knew that being its first Chief Strategy Officer would be a career-defining opportunity for me. To now be asked to take on the role of CEO, and build on Sherry’s legacy, is a profound and humbling honor, particularly at this time of incredible opportunity for Compass. I’m thrilled at the opportunity to lead an organization with such an amazing team and a mission that has deep personal resonance for me.”
Ms. Morris-Louis’s appointment as CEO was unanimously and enthusiastically approved by the organization’s Board of Directors. The Board, as well as Compass’ Executive Team, will be working closely together over the next several months to support a seamless transition from Ms. Riva to Ms. Morris-Louis.
“Sherry has served this organization with distinction for 17 years. Compass would not be what it is today without her exceptional and tireless leadership,” says Scott Carmel, who serves as Chair of Compass’ Board of Directors. “Although it is bittersweet to see Sherry step down from her role as CEO, the entire Board fully supports her decision. And, most importantly, we are thrilled to welcome Markita as the next CEO and look forward to working closely with her as Compass continues to pursue its ambitious goals for national scale and impact.”