Clara Fox Outstanding Achievement Award

Strategic Advisory, Bell and Notice Advisors, LLC/Former President of LISC

Denise is the founder and CEO of Bell and Notice Advisors. Drawing from over four decades of leadership experience in community development, she advises nonprofit, public and private sector leaders on community investment and affordable housing strategies. She is nationally known for her strategic expertise. 
 
Denise currently serves on the boards of the Consumer Finance Protection Board, NYC Housing Development Corporation and Queens Museum. From 2016 to 2022 she served on the Board of Directors of NY Federal Reserve Bank, serving as Chair from 2019 to 2021.
 
Prior to launching Bell and Notice Advisors she served in executive leadership roles at Local Initiatives Support Corporation, for over 24 years, culminating with her role as President.
 
During her tenure as President, Denise led LISC’s investment in 37 cities and rural areas in 49 states with a firm commitment to ensuring local leaders have the platform and capacity to drive strategies for equitable community change. She is responsible for providing vision and setting the strategic direction for local offices and national programs and leading implementation of enterprise priorities like Project 10X, LISC’s ambitious agenda to close racial health, wealth, and opportunity gaps.
 
Under Denise’s leadership LISC invested as much as $2 billion annually in urban and rural community development and expanded its footprint by nearly 20% with seven new local offices, primarily in the Southeast. She was also instrumental to LISC’s response to the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in communities of color, guiding the organization’s significant engagement with all levels of government, corporate donors, and philanthropy to support families, community-based nonprofits and small businesses in areas ranging from rent relief to the Paycheck Protection Program to equitable vaccine distribution.
 
Denise has a MS in Urban Planning from Columbia University and has taught at its Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation as a Visiting Assistant Professor. She also holds a BA from CUNY Hunter College.