Duanne Andrade

M. Duanne Andrade is the Executive Director of the Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF), a CDFI/ Green Bank based in Florida with a footprint across the Southeast United States. Duanne is a passionate advocate for social, environmental, and economic equity and has spent the past 20+ years working on creating innovative financing models to unlock access to fair capital for low wealth populations in underserved communities, both in the United States and in Latin America. She has worked extensively with nonprofit micro finance models focused on lifting vulnerable populations out of poverty as well as for-profit financing models to address financing gaps for small businesses.

Duanne expanded her focus to include energy efficiency and clean energy as a critical component of sustainable development and she founded an energy efficiency company in Mexico in 2008 to reduce carbon emissions and help transition the highly polluting industrial sector to clean energy. Running up against capital constraints she pivoted towards the financing side and moved back to the US where she was introduced to SELF which was in an early startup phase. In 2013, Duanne began working with SELF to knock down barriers of access to capital with a focus on helping LMI populations gain access to the benefits of energy efficiency, storm resilience, and clean energy.

Before assuming the role of Executive Director, Duanne co-led SELF for 10 years as its Chief Financial and Strategic Officer, helping SELF diversify its ‘green’ residential loan programs with innovative products to advance inclusion and climate equity for residents across Florida and the Southern region. Duanne’s leadership in capital raising efforts and successful implementation of innovative programs has led to a tenfold increase in SELF’s assets positioning SELF as national leader in climate equity lending.

Duanne thrives on challenging the status quo of traditional financing models and innovating to advance access for underserved communities to benefit from an equitable “green economy”.

She has a bachelor’s degree from NYU and an MBA from the Catholic University of Bolivia’s Harvard International Institute for Development Program and serves on several boards.