William Bynum

For nearly three decades Bill Bynum has worked to advance economic opportunity for disenfranchised and underserved populations. He began his professional career by helping to establish Self-Help, a pioneer in the development finance industry, and later built nationally recognized programs at the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. He moved to Jackson in 1994 to become the founding CEO of the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, and in 1995 organized Hope Credit Union. Today HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation/Hope Credit Union), is a regional community development financial institution, intermediary and policy center that provides and promotes responsible financial services and related assistance for entrepreneurs, homebuyers and community development projects in distressed communities across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Bill has advised Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama on community development, small business and financial service matters, serving for ten years as a presidential appointee and Chairman of the Treasury Department’s Community Development Advisory Board. In 2012 he was named Vice Chairman of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s inaugural Consumer Advisory Board. A Salzburg Seminar Fellow, Bill is a recipient of the University of North Carolina Distinguished Alumnus Award, Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year Award, National Rural Assembly Rural Hero Award and National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions "Helping Hands" Award. His board/ trustee service includes Millsaps College, Jackson State University Development Foundation, University of Mississippi MIND Center, Foundation for the Mid South, Mississippi Children’s Museum, Corporation for Enterprise Development and the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation. Bill is a 1998 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.