John Hamilton, Vice President of Economic Opportunity, New Hampshire Community Loan Fund
John Hamilton is Vice President of Economic Opportunity at the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, a 34-year old nonprofit that turns investments into loans and education to create opportunity and transform lives across New Hampshire.
John leads lending production for the Community Loan Fund, which has lent more than $260 million in New Hampshire for affordable housing, childcare and economic opportunities. John has a passion for cultivating people and profits. He is currently leading the expansion of the Community Loan Fund’s Business Finance program connects business owners with the capital and expertise they need to compete in a changing marketplace. Its professionals work
hard to get to know their borrowers, then apply creativity and experience to get to “yes” on hard-to-get- done deals, and to find the right type of financing to help their borrowers succeed.
Business Finance’s Farm and Food Initiative improves access to capital for farms, food providers and others that support the growth of healthy sustainable food systems in New Hampshire. John is also the founder and Managing Director of the Community Loan Fund’s Vested for Growth program, which has placed millions in growth capital. Vested for Growth provides alternative investment structures such as royalty, or mezzanine, financing to enable high-growth businesses to accomplish their acquisition and/or growth plans. Royalty financing is a new way to get capital to flow to small businesses in NH that can’t access enough bank debt, and yet don’t want or are not appropriate for equity. This “roll up your sleeve” style of investing provides him with the opportunity to work intimately with businesses as they strategize practical solutions. John acts as a close advisor and partner, not a decision-making director. In that same vein, he also facilitates monthly meetings of CEO peer groups. These peer groups
involve leaders from diverse businesses but the CEOs share a common desire – to find new ways to
engage employees and improve quality.
John offers an eclectic mix of leadership experience having worked in the areas of business investing, workforce development, affordable housing, and energy conservation. This reflects his entrepreneurial nature and interest in building “win-win strategies” across all three sectors – for-profit, non-profit and government. John keeps himself fresh by playing hockey throughout the year and spending time outdoors camping, hiking, skiing with his wife, daughter, and friends.
About Opportunity NH Investments
The Community Loan Fund fills capital gaps by shaping its capital to its borrowers’ needs. This is possible because more than 600 individuals, churches, banks and foundations invest in its shared-risk pool. Those Opportunity NH Investments provide a flexible source of capital that can be deployed with patience, creativity and customized training or education that sets the borrower up for success. Opportunity NH Investments also provide a lower-risk way to invest locally. We have a spotless record of 100% repayment to our investors since our founding in 1983. We take great care to maintain reserves to protect investors’ money.
Some of our impact investors have an additional appetite for more-direct lending and investing in local businesses, welcome a higher risk/reward profile. In recent years, more co-investors have joined us in business deals that were too large for us to do alone. These co-investments allow us to fill more capital gaps and help investors deploy more capital, locally, in ways that reflect their values and impact goals.