CSFD is a non-profit charter school finance and development company that specializes in providing affordable facility solutions to high quality charter schools in underserved neighborhoods.
We believe that investment in education pays the best return.
Education is a fundamental right and key to building more peaceful societies. Poor education produces high costs for societies such that failing nations are the ones who don’t invest into education of future generations, and are those who then have to spend their time, energy and resources to fix unemployment, crime and other ills that resulted from inadequate education. Our goal is to do our share to help increase potential of success in life for underprivileged children.
Your investment will help send more underserved kids to college. To invest in education:
Please contact [email protected] for further information.
Kairat Mavlyankulov – Chief Executive Officer
As CEO, Kairat is responsible for all aspects of organizational operations, lending, strategy, consulting, and development. With over 15 years of comprehensive community development experience, Kairat has broad, direct experience in non-profit management, community development, charter school facility financing, planning, and turnkey development.
Before joining CSFD, Kairat was COO and CFO of New Plan Learning, a Community Development Entity where he helped create over one million square feet of space for charter schools and financed over $200 million in charter school facility financing. He also held finance and accounting roles in the financial industry.
He is the board chair of the Future Institute – an organization focused on supporting charter school high school students’ college transition, college persistence, and career readiness.
Kairat has a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Economics from DePaul University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Andrew Baldwin – Chief Credit Officer/Chief Lending Officer
As Chief Credit/Lending Officer, Andrew manages CSFD’s lending initiatives and assists the CEO with strategic growth of the organization. Previously, Andrew served as Chief Lending and Credit Officer at Partners for the Common Good (PCG). In over six years at PCG, Andrew played a key role in significant expansion of their lending activities, including building their New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program and leading the development of an innovative off-balance sheet fund designed to expand capital access for the CDFI industry.
Prior to joining PCG, Andrew was Director of Loan Originations at Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH). Over an eleven year period at CSH, he played key roles in the growth of lending and NMTC investing, geographic expansion, as well as new product development. Prior experience includes work in housing development and finance in Los Angeles, economic development in Upstate New York, and management consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Andrew is also a former U.S. Army Officer.
Andrew has a BA in Economics from George Washington University and a Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Jim Ford – Chief Strategy Officer
As Chief Strategy Officer, Jim focuses on strategic planning, programmatic expansion, market growth and charter school sector impact, client and pipeline development, identification of lending and operating capital sources and opportunities, partnership and client development, and organizational capacity building and impact. Jim has more than 25 years of experience in community development, charter school planning, growth, expansion and replication, charter school facilities financing, planning, and development, and charter school assessment, evaluation, and authorizing.
Before joining CSFD, Jim was instrumental in the enactment of charter school enabling legislation in Washington, DC. Thereafter, he designed and led on behalf of the former National Council of La Raza (now Unidos USA) a national Charter School Development Initiative, developed and managed a national charter school facilities financing program on behalf of the CDFI Raza Development Fund, and designed, implemented, and administered a Replicating Quality (Charter) Schools program (in conjunction with the New York City Charter School Center) that resulted in the creation of hundreds of thousand new charter school seats in New York City, Washington, DC, Memphis and Nashville, and in New Orleans.
Since 2010, Jim has been President/Principal of Ford Research & Solutions, Inc (FRS). FRS specializes in strategic planning, facilities planning, development, and financing, school / CMO assessment and evaluation, market analyses and forecasts, and charter school authorizing best practices. FRS’s primary clientele focus is urban and rural.
Jim has served on numerous charter school and non-profit boards of directors and advisory board throughout his career. At present, he is Chair of the Friends of Ascend Board (a real estate holding entity for a Brooklyn-based CMO), and a member of the Advisory Board of the BlueHub Community Loan Fund. He has a BSBA from Creighton University’s Heider College of Business.
Jamie Prijatel – Director of Programs
As Director of Programs, Jamie project manages CSFD’s new initiatives and projects across states with governmental offices, charter schools, charter management organizations, and other key partners. Jamie leads and collaborates with the team to identify and write federal, state, local, and private grant opportunities and works closely with the team to advance and meet fundraising goals.
Before joining CSFD, as a consultant Jamie worked with client teams and partners to project manage and write state charter school start-up grant applications, private facilities lending applications, and private foundation grant applications generating private grants and loan awards of approximately $3,360,000M. In addition, Jamie acted as Interim Senior Loan Officer at a CDFI and underwrote three facility loans for two high-performing CMOs, one in Los Angeles and the other in the Bay area in the span of six months.
Prior to consulting, Jamie held various roles at the New York City Department of Education, including the roles of charter school Authorizer and Associate Director of New School Development. Jamie has experience working with various school model designs across the country, such as Career and Technical Education, Montessori K-12 education, agri-focused/PBL high school, blended learning, credit recovery, English Learner common language, and dual language (Spanish and English), diverse by design, and special education. Jamie has worked across the following states: Louisiana, New York, California, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Arizona, and South Carolina.
Jamie has a BA in Psychology from Boston University and a Master in Public Policy and Administration degree from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Amanda Gu – Credit Analyst
As a Credit Analyst, she assists in conducting various financial risk assessments, managing loan portfolios, and supporting fundraising and research efforts. Currently, she is a second-year Master of Public Policy student with a specialization in Finance Policy and Data Analytics at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.
Before joining CSFD, Amanda worked in think tanks, market research, and retail research, conducting research in various fields, including the CPG sector, environmental sustainability, digital democracy, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism.
Amanda has a BA in political science and economics from Vanderbilt University.