William J. Bynum (born November 8, 1958) is an American executive who is the chief executive officer and founder of Hope Enterprise Corporation, Hope Credit Union and the Hope Policy Institute, collectively known as HOPE.
Bill Bynum | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Education | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA) |
| Occupation | Businessperson Philanthropist |
Early life and education
editWilliam J. Bynum was born in New York City and lived in East Harlem.[1] His parents, Addie Burnette Bynum and William Sr., were from North Carolina and when Bynum was five years old, his family returned to North Carolina, settling in Bynum.[1][2]
He rotated between Black and white schools until the seventh grade, when the schools integrated. He attended the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill,[1] where he served as chairman of the Black Student Movement,[2] and led efforts to revers the tenure denial of Dr. Sonja Stone, head of UNC's African and Afro-American Studies curriculum. Initially journalism major, he later shifted to psychology and political science, earning a double major.[1]
Career
editWile preparing to attend law school, he began working for a labor organization, which sparked his interest in economic and social justice.[1] Bynum took a position in Durham, North Carolina, at the Center for Community Self-Help, helping tblue-collar workers organize employee-owned businesses. To help finance the businesses, they used $77 raisted from a bake sale to organize Self-Help Credit Union.[1][2] As a youth, he had been seen the power of people pooling their resources to help their neighbors at a credit union that served the Black community, based in his high school vice principal’s garage.[1][2] In 1989, he began working for the North Carolina Rural Center, where he built the nation's largest microcredit program to finance low-income entrepreneurs, which was received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Microenterprise Development from President Bill Clinton.[1]
In 1994, recruited by George Penick, president of the Foundation for the Mid-South, former Mississippi governor William Winter, Entergy CEO Ed Lupberger, Walmart CEO Rob Walton, Delta businessman Billy Percy and other leaders, Bynum moved to Jackson, Mississippi, to lead the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, a nonprofit organization established to support business development and create quality jobs in the Delta region of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.[1]
HOPE Credit Union
editAfter settling in Jackson, Bynum joined Anderson Methodist Church, where after learning about his background during an orientation conference, Rev. Jeffery Stallworth encouraged Bynum to organize a credit union to provide an affordable alternative to the payday lenders and check cashers that preyed on area residents. In 1995 the members of Anderson chartered Hope Community Credit Union. In 2022, Bynum’s day job, the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, joined forces with his volunteer church project, combining lending and business experience with a reliable source of liquidity in the form of federally-insured deposits. In 2004, HOPE expanded to Biloxi and New Orleans,[1] playing a central role in the region’s recovery after Hurricane Katrina.
Today, HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation, Hope Credit Union and Hope Policy Institute) is one of the nation’s most impactful community development organizations, providing financial services; leveraging resources; and engaging in advocacy that strengthens the financial health and wealth of people in under-resourced communities throughout Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Since 1994, HOPE’s efforts have benefitted more than three million people in the Deep South, and influenced billions of investment in persistent poverty communities across the nation. Learn more at www.hopecu.org.
Other work
editBynum serves on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta - New Orleans branch, Aspen Institute, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Prosperity Now, Black Vision Fund, Mississippi Today, Churchill Capital IV and V, and as an advisor to Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and E Pluribus Unum. The recipient of Myrlie & Medgar Evers Voices of Courage & Justice Award, the John W. Gardner Leadership Award, Heinz Award,[3] McNulty Prize and University of North Carolina Distinguished Alumnus Award,[2] he previously chaired the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Consumer Advisory Board, Treasury Department Community Development Advisory Board, served as a member of the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Team, and the U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty. Bynum was a Towsley Policymaker in Residence at the University of Michigan Gerald Ford School of Public Policy, and alumnus of the Henry Crown Fellowship, Emerson Collective Dial Fellowship, Salzburg Global Fellowship, and a member of the U.S. Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Bynum is on the board of the and the in addition to other organizations. He's a former member of the advisory boards for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and the .[1] In 2020, Bynum was named to the Joe Biden presidential transition team to support transition efforts related to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.[4]
Personal life
editHis first wife, Hope Simmons Bynum, passed away in 2019. With their daughter Blythe, Bynum established the “Hope Lives Fund” to support girls and women in need.[5]
In 2022, he married Denise April of Jackson a retired businesswoman and community volunteer. Between them they have three children and five grandchildren.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Criss, Jack (5 November 2020). "Bill Bynum". Delta Business Journal. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Spurr, Kim. "Southern Futures: Chief Hope Officer". College Arts & Sciences Magazine. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
- ^ "The Heinz Awards :: William Bynum". www.heinzawards.net. Retrieved 2021-11-18.
- ^ Passman, Aaron (11 November 2020). "Biden transition teams add credit union CEO and former NCUA staffer". American Banker. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
- ^ "Hope Bynum Obituary (1954 - 2019) - Clarion Ledger". Legacy. Retrieved 17 November 2020.