Catalyze: Access to Capital

This episode features a discussion about Access to Capital across the region. Host JB Holston is joined by Peter Scher (Vice Chairman, JP Morgan Chase & Co.) founder and the Chairman of the Greater Washington Partnership, in conversation with Ellis Carr (President and CEO, Capital Impact Partners & CDC Small Business Finance).

Hosted by JB Holston. Produced by Maribeth Romslo and Nina Sharma. Edited by Christian Rodriguez. Engineered by Micah Johnson. With support from Jenna Klym, Justin Matheson-Turner, and Christian Rodriguez.

SPEAKER BIOS

PETER SCHER

Peter L. Scher is Vice Chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. Scher is the firm’s senior business executive for the Mid-Atlantic Region and oversees the firm’s global Corporate Responsibility department, including its public policy efforts, the J.P. Morgan International Council and Morgan Health, a new business unit focused on improving the quality of healthcare for the firm’s employees and creating new models for employer-based healthcare.

Scher led the firm’s $200 million investment in the revitalization of Detroit, which has been featured on 60 Minutes, profiled by Fortune Magazine in ranking JPMorgan Chase number one on its list of companies “Changing the World” and chronicled by Harvard Business School as a case study for inclusive capitalism.

Business Insider named Scher as one of 10 people “transforming how we think about capitalism” and Washington Life Magazine called him one of the most influential people in the U.S. Capitol. The Washington Business Journal recognized him as one of the top business executives in the Washington, D.C. region.

Scher spent nearly a decade in public service. He was confirmed by the United States Senate as U.S. Special Trade Ambassador and served as one of the lead U.S. negotiators on China's entry into the World Trade Organization. He served as the Chief of Staff for the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce, Staff Director for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and Chief of Staff to former U.S. Senator Max Baucus.

Scher is a founder and the Chairman of the Greater Washington Partnership and serves on the Board of Trustees of American University and a member of the Board of Directors of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., the Council on Foreign Relations and the Policy Advisory Board of the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware School of Public Policy.  

Scher received his B.A. from American University and his J.D. from American’s Washington College of Law.

ELLIS CARR

Carr has served as Capital Impact Partners’ President and Chief Executive Officer since 2016. He became President and Chief Executive Officer of CDC Small Business Finance in 2021.

Carr originally joined Capital Impact in 2012 as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Prior to joining Capital Impact, he held various positions in the investments, capital markets, strategy, and corporate finance areas within Freddie Mac, and in fixed-income fund management both domestically and abroad at Deutsche Bank.

Carr is an Aspen Institute Finance Leader Fellow; serves on Morgan Stanley’s Community Development Advisory Board; is the Board Chair for Martha’s Table, Board Treasurer for HPN (the Housing Partnership Network), and a board member for the Marguerite Casey Foundation. In 2018, he was recognized on Washington Business Journal’s list of “Top Minority Business Leaders,” as well as being named among their “Top 40 under 40” business executives in 2015. 

Carr graduated from Towson University with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, and from Georgetown University with a master’s degree in Real Estate with a concentration in Finance.