Teri Lovelace, Class of 2015

Teri Lovelace
President, LOCUS Impact Investing
Richmond, VA

What is new and exciting with you now or since your time with Lead Virginia?
Virginia Community Capital (VCC) has launched a new social enterprise, LOCUS, which is Latin for local and opportunity service, a new social enterprise to empower place-focused foundations to invest their capital locally to build prosperous, vibrant communities. Foundations understand community need; however, they often lack the necessary banking and financial skills to successfully mitigate risk and monitor these local mission investments. LOCUS is offering an affordable and effective way to underwrite local mission investments, including upfront risk assessment and ongoing servicing and monitoring. For years VCC has been working in the state of Virginia making investments in affordable housing, health care access, energy efficiency, fresh food, and community revitalization. LOCUS gives us the opportunity to take our work nationally.

How has your Lead Virginia experience influenced or shaped you as a leader?
I now have a much broader perspective in my thinking, particularly when it comes to rural communities and understanding the unique needs in rural area such as southwestern and southern Virginia. Lead Virginia allowed me to look at the bigger picture, which inspired me to launch a new social enterprise that would help in rural areas across the nation.  

Since Lead Virginia, how have you put your social capital to work?
I have called upon folks in the class, not just my class, but particularly in southwestern and southern Virginia to learn more about what we were doing in rural areas. That was really cool; I had a network of people in parts of the state I have never been to. Also in launching this new social enterprise I have called upon the people in my class to be a sounding board to a new business venture.

What is something that Lead Virginia inspired you to do that you were not doing before your class year?Thinking bigger and thinking across communities, particularly in light of this new business venture. I don’t think I could be leading a new social enterprise if I didn’t have the experience that Lead Virginia gave me in thinking broadly. It is really because of what lead Virginia allowed me to see about Virginia and the unique needs the state has.

What did you expect from Lead Virginia going in? Did the program exceed your expectations and broaden your horizons?
Hands down, it exceeded my expectations. I didn’t really know what to except when I started. I knew it was going to be good but I did not think I was going to get the social capital and the ability to draw upon others in such away. It really allowed me to think more broadly on issues across the state. And I grew to really appreciate differences in Virginia and how to work within those differences.