Levar Martin

As a member of NALCAB’s executive leadership team, Levar Martin serves as Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, responsible for overseeing NALCAB’s national programs and special projects, operations, lending, and HR/Organizational Culture. He also supports governance, strategic planning, fundraising, and strategic partnerships. Levar also oversees NALCAB’s Latino Executive Advancement and Development (LEAD), executive leadership program, in partnership with The George Washington University.

In his role leading NALCAB’s financial and investment strategies, Levar also oversees the organization’s lending activities, including its work as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) intermediary and oversight of a $18 million loan fund. Along with NALCAB’s CFO, he additionally directs two off-balance sheet national social impact equity funds, one focused on expanding and preserving affordable housing in changing neighborhoods, and the other providing loan capital to help small businesses and entrepreneurs grow.

Levar began his career at NALCAB in 2011 as a Program Assistant, tracking job creation and the economic impact of a $137 million Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP2). Since then, he has held multiple roles across the organization. Prior to his current position, Levar led the expansion of NALCAB’s national Neighborhood Development program area, leveraging Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to develop a methodology for analyzing and anticipating neighborhood change, including identifying community vulnerability and risks of gentrification.

Before joining NALCAB, Levar worked as a manager for a small business and interned with the City of San Antonio’s Department of Planning and Community Development, where he also focused on GIS. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a concentration in Urban Studies from Trinity University and a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).

Levar currently serves on Truist Bank’s Texas Advisory Committee, the Board of Directors for RAISE Texas, and the Small Business Anti-Displacement (SBAN) Advisory Board of the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. He received the 2018 Rising Star Award for Urban and Regional Planning from UTSA in recognition of his outstanding professional advancement in the field. In 2019, he completed the NeighborWorks America Achieving Excellence Executive Education Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Most recently, in 2023, Levar was recognized as one of LISC San Antonio’s Impact Leaders.