2025 NonProfit Professional of the Year Award: Michael T. Pugh

2025 NonProfit Professional of the Year Award

Michael T. Pugh

President and CEO
Local Initiatives Support Corp.

At a time when communities across the country are grappling with an unprecedented housing shortage and widening economic inequality, effective nonprofit leadership requires both scale and strategy. During Michael T. Pugh’s tenure as president and CEO, Local Initiatives Support Corp. has delivered both — reaching record levels of investment while strengthening the infrastructure that supports long-term community stability.

Pugh is the recipient of NonProfit PRO’s 2025 NonProfit Professional of the Year Award, recognized for steering one of the nation’s leading community development organizations through a period of historic growth and impact.

In 2024, Local Initiatives Support Corp. invested $3.2 billion in urban and rural communities nationwide — the largest annual investment volume in the organization’s 45-year history. Those direct investments helped leverage an additional $3.4 billion in capital for community-based projects, expanding access to affordable housing, supporting small businesses and strengthening local economies.

Addressing the nation’s housing crisis has been a central focus for the organization during Pugh’s tenure. With the U.S. facing an estimated 4.7 million-home shortfall, the nonprofit and its affiliates financed 23,612 homes in 2024, an increase of more than 5,000 homes over the previous year. These investments have helped stabilize neighborhoods and expand pathways to homeownership and long-term wealth building.

Recognizing that housing alone does not create thriving communities, Pugh has also prioritized investments in the places where people live, work and gather. In 2024, Local Initiatives Support Corp. financed more than 1 million square feet of commercial and community space, including manufacturing facilities, retail businesses and community health centers — supporting economic mobility and access to essential services.

Pugh has also led the nonprofit’s response when communities face acute crises. Following Hurricane Helene, Local Initiatives Support Corp. partnered with Lowe’s to launch the Lowe’s Western North Carolina Small Business Recovery Fund, committing $2.5 million to help businesses recover from storm damage. The program provided $20,000 grants to 100 affected enterprises, offering critical support to small businesses that anchor local economies.

Beyond capital deployment, Pugh has emphasized financial mobility at the individual level. Under his leadership, the organization continues to support a national network of 121 financial opportunity centers, helping residents improve credit scores, strengthen job prospects and build long-term financial stability. In rural communities, Local Initiatives Support Corp. has also provided seed funding to organizations repairing homes owned by low-income single women and seniors, while supporting the construction of new affordable housing.

His perspective is also shaped by lived experience. Growing up in Detroit as the son of a widowed single mother working in health care, Pugh saw firsthand how financial stability affects health, housing and opportunity. That understanding continues to guide his work.

“Seeing how critical [it] is to have the stability to afford your home and stay in your home as part of a community you trust, he dedicated himself to affecting the financial health of his community,” his nominator told NonProfit PRO.

Pugh’s nonprofit leadership is also informed by decades of experience in financial services. Prior to joining Local Initiatives Support Corp., he served for more than a decade as president and CEO of Carver Federal Savings Bank, the nation’s largest publicly traded African American-operated bank, where he led efforts to expand credit access and increase capital flow to historically underserved communities.

“His unique professional background and personal story have created an innovative approach to LISC’s mission of building resilient, vibrant and affordable communities, and it is that vision that makes him one of the top nonprofit professionals of the year,” his nominator said. 

The Rest of the 2025 NonProfit Professionals of the Year Awards

• Lifetime Achievement Award: Margaret Foti and Joanne Samuel Goldblum
• Fundraiser of the Year Award: Jason Heitman
• Rising Star Award: Damon Christian Watson
• Unsung Hero Award: Tracy Cramer