Project Finance Associate

Cherry Bekaert’s Strategic Financing Services (SFS) Group is looking for a Project Finance Associate to join the SFS team. We offer an opportunity to work with a team of experts with a deep track record in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation applications, NMTC placement and deployment, and NMTC compliance and asset management services. The successful candidate will build a pipeline of potential borrowers, structured finance opportunities, and expand into new markets and regions using in-depth knowledge of and relationships with Community Development Entities (CDEs), tax credit investors, and other community development stakeholders. The successful candidate will have a strong sense of urgency and a mission to help make a difference in Low-Income Communities.

 

About SFS: SFS has been involved in the NMTC industry since its inception and to date has secured over $1.7 billion in NMTC funding. SFS is proud to have structured and facilitated NMTC investments that have created 28,077 direct jobs, served 957,153 clients through community facilities, and helped create over 10.6 million square feet of new and improved commercial and industrial real estate. SFS’s current portfolio consists of investments in areas with poverty rates as high as 66%, median family income as low as 14.24%, and unemployment rates as high as 31.2%.

 

 About The Innovate Fund (TIF): TIF serves the state of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Since inception, it has directly deployed $327 million of NMTC investments in 28 transactions that have leveraged an additional $480.1 million of indirect capital, and created 6,460 direct jobs, while expanding the service area’s health and wellness services to 229,299 Low Income Persons. TIF is governed by a seven-member governing board, including representation from Cherry Bekaert and the Greenville Local Development Corporation, with input from an advisory board of 9 LIC experts.

 

 

As a Project Finance Associate, you will:

• Communicate with and manage relationships with potential borrowers, CDEs, and investors
• Identify, evaluate, and manage a pipeline of NMTC, and other community development finance, opportunities
• Collect, package, and manage due diligence on potential borrower and Project Sponsors
• Develop marketing materials to present to CDEs and investors
• Build relationships with CDEs to better identify the best project financing match
• Support the structuring of NMTC transactions in collaboration with external legal counsel
• Advise borrowers on business terms and work with borrowers and closing team to finalize loan structure
• Travel: 50%

 

What you bring to the role:

• BA in Accounting, Finance, Economics, or related field; Master’s Degree or JD a plus
• At least 1+ years of experience in community development finance, structured finance, or commercial loans preferred
• Knowledge of tax credit financing required, with specific experience with NMTC strongly preferred
• Experience in working with CDEs, lenders, investors
• Demonstrated experience in putting together and closing deals
• Proficiency in Excel
• Strong sense of urgency and shared sense of mission

 

What we offer you:

• Our shared values that foster inclusion and belonging, including uncompromising integrity, collaboration, trust, and mutual respect
• The opportunity to innovate and do work that motivates and engages you 
• A collaborative environment focused on enabling you to further your career growth and continuous professional development
• Competitive compensation and a total rewards package that focuses on all aspects of your wellbeing
• Flexibility to do impactful work and the time to enjoy your life outside of work
• Opportunities to connect and learn from professionals from different backgrounds and with different cultures

 

About Cherry Bekaert

Cherry Bekaert, ranked among the largest assurance, tax and advisory firms in the U.S., serves clients across industries in all 50 U.S. states and internationally. “Cherry Bekaert” is the brand name under which Cherry Bekaert LLP and Cherry Bekaert Advisory LLC, independently owned entities, provide professional services in an alternative practice structure in accordance with applicable professional standards. Cherry Bekaert LLP is a licensed CPA firm that provides attest services, and Cherry Bekaert Advisory LLC and its subsidiary entities provide business advisory and non-attest services spanning the areas of transaction advisory, risk and accounting advisory, digital solutions, cybersecurity, tax, benefits consulting, and wealth management. For more details, visit cb