Martin Daniel Eakes is an American economic development strategist, and credit union CEO. Eakes grew up in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

and graduated from Davidson College, where he majored in

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and philosophy, and holds a J.D. from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

and an M.P.P. from the

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. In 1980, he co-founded the Center for Community Self-Help in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

. Self-Help provides consumer financial services technical support and advocacy for those left out of the economic mainstream. The nonprofit is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina and has offices in South Carolina,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, Washington, D.C., California, Illinois and Wisconsin. Through Self-Help's Center for Responsible Lending, Eakes has advocated for fair lending practices and sound economic policies. In 1998, he helped form the Center for Responsible Lending.

Boards

Eakes is a Trustee of the Ford Foundation and a member of its Education, Creativity and Free Expression Committee. Eakes is a Trustee of Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. He also serves on its national Board of Advisors for the Center for Principled Problem Solving.

Personal

He is married to Barbara Marie Wright; they have two children, Justin and Carlyn.

Awards

* 1996 MacArthur Fellows Program * Ford Foundation grant * 2009 Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award for Responsible Lending. * 2009 AARP Inspire Awards Honoree * 2011 Ford Foundation Visionaries Award for his contributions to creating financial opportunities for the poor * 2013 Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award from The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights * 2015 James Madison Medal from the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni (APGA)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eakes, Martin Living people Businesspeople from Greensboro, North Carolina Davidson College alumni Yale Law School alumni Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni MacArthur Fellows Year of birth missing (living people) American chief executives of financial services companies