Board of Directors

Brian E. Argrett, President & CEO, joined City First Bank in November 2011, bringing with him extensive expertise in financing growing companies in lower- and moderate-income and minority communities with both debt and equity. Click here for full background.

Kristi Cunningham Whitfield, a Director since 2011, is currently a member of the Community and Business Development Committee. Ms. Whitfield co-owns Curbside Cupcakes. Curbside Cupcakes is Washington DC’s first mobile cupcake truck, delivering gourmet cupcakes to the office, home, or events to businesses and residents in the District of Columbia. In addition, Ms. Whitfield is the Executive Director of the DC Food Truck Association. Ms. Whitfield has over a decade of experience in affordable housing and community development, program design, fundraising, nonprofit management, and strategic planning. Ms. Cunningham Whitfield received her bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

John M. Hamilton is currently Secretary of the Corporation and Bank, and a director since 1998 and was the former Chairman of Community First Inc. Mr. Hamilton currently is employed as the President of City First Enterprises. He is the former Secretary of Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, served as Commissioner of Indiana's Department of Environmental Management and as Chief of Staff to the Lieutenant Governor of Indiana. Prior to this, he practiced law in Indiana. Mr. Hamilton received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University and law degree from Indiana University.

Joseph F. Horning, Jr., a director since 1998. Mr. Horning is CEO and Chairman of Horning Brothers, a local real estate company that develops, owns and manages over 3,000 rental units, and 160,000 square feet of retail space in the D.C. Metropolitan area. One of his most innovative and transformational projects is the Tivoli Theatre, which combined housing, performing arts and retail space. The project is credited with spurring the redevelopment of the 14th Street corridor in Columbia Heights. Mr. Horning is a native Washingtonian who received his bachelor's degree from Mount Saint Mary's College and master's degree from American University.

Leonade D. Jones, a director since 2008 and Chairs the Community and Business Development Committee. Ms. Jones is a director of several mutual funds in the American Funds Group and a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System. She is the co-founder and former CFO of VentureThink, LLC and Vesura Inc., companies in higher education finance. For over 20 years, Ms. Jones worked in senior management with The Washington Post Company concluding with tenure as Treasurer. Actively involved in community and public affairs, Ms. Jones is currently a trustee emeritus of Simmons College and a director of the Studio Theatre and the Washington Area Women’s Foundation. She earned her JD/MBA from Stanford Law School and the Graduate School of Business after graduating from Simmons College with a BA with distinction. She is a member of the California Bar and the District of Columbia Bar. Ms. Jones was inducted into the Washington DC Women’s Hall of Fame and awarded the Candace Award for Business from the Coalition of 100 Black Women. She is a recipient of the Outstanding Young Women of America Award. Ms. Jones is a native of Washington, DC.

Thomas F. Kelley, a director since 2008 and Chairs the Directors Loan Committee. Mr. Kelley has extensive experience in the real estate finance and commercial banking industry. He spent over 30 years with SunTrust Bank, and retired in 2005 from his position of Group Executive for Real Estate Finance in the Mid Atlantic Region. Since early 2008, he has been re-employed by SunTrust as a Special Assets Real Estate Manager in Raleigh, NC. Mr. Kelley is a member of the Fundraising Committee of the Arlington Diocese, Catholic Charities, and has served on the Board of Directors of Falls Church Housing Corporation, a non-profit affordable housing developer, since 2005. He earned his undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Virginia, McIntire School of Commerce and his MBA from George Washington University in Washington, DC.  

Dr. William A. Longbrake, Ph.D., a Director since 2011, is currently a member of the Directors’ Loan Committee and a Board Representative on the Bank’s Asset and Liability Committee. Dr. Longbrake is currently employed as an Executive in Residence at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and participates in the Center for Financial Policy. Mr. Longbrake is active in numerous academic, business, and community service organizations, particularly those involving issues surrounding affordable housing and education. He has extensive experience in finance and investments, macroeconomics and monetary policy, risk management, housing, and public policy. He currently writes a monthly economic newsletter for Barnett, Sivon and Natter. Mr. Longbrake is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lift Up Africa, a charitable organization that finances humanitarian and economic development initiatives on the continent of Africa  He is Chairman of the Board of HOPE LoanPort, a non-profit organization that provides a data management and communications web portal to housing counselors and home mortgage servicers. He is a member of several committees of the American Bankers Association. Mr. Longbrake was a Director of First Financial Northwest, a community bank located in Renton, Washington, from 2008-2010; a Director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle from 2002-2010; and a Director of the Washington Financial League from 2002-2010. He taught courses in business administration and finance at the University of Maryland and Seattle University. In 2007 Mr. Longbrake received the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year award from the Robert H. Smith School of Business of the University of Maryland. Mr. Longbrake began his career in Washington, DC where he served in various government positions, including Acting Senior Deputy Comptroller for Policy and Senior Deputy Comptroller for Resource Management for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and financial economist, acting controller and special assistant to the Chairman at the FDIC. Mr. Longbrake earned his bachelor-of-arts degree in economics from the College of Wooster. He earned his master’s degree in monetary economics and his master of business administration degree from the University of Wisconsin. He received his Ph.D. in finance from the University of Maryland.

David J. McGrady, a director since 1998 and currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the corporation and bank, and Chair of the Audit and Compliance Committee. Mr. McGrady is a consultant to community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and a nationally recognized expert on the NMTC program. He advises banks, municipalities and CDFIs on a range of issues, including corporate structure and governance, capitalization, market assessment, product development, and risk and portfolio management. For many years, Mr. McGrady was Director of Commercial Programs for the Center for Community Self-Help in Durham, North Carolina. Under his leadership, Self-Help originated over 1,300 higher risk business loans totaling more than $80 million. He is chairman of the Board of the National Community Investment Fund. Mr. McGrady received his bachelor's degree at King's College and law degree from Harvard Law School. 

Kathy J. McKinless, a director since 2010 and is a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee. Ms. McKinless retired from KPMG LLP, an international certified public accounting firm in 2003.  As a Certified Public Accountant, Ms. McKinless has over 28 years experience in public accounting auditing various types of corporations including banks, real estate companies, colleges/universities and not-for-profit organizations. Ms. McKinless is active in community outreach organizations and currently a part-time advisor for the Archdiocese of Washington. Ms. McKinless received her bachelor's and master's of business administration degrees from the University of South Carolina.

Bo Menkiti, a Director since 2011, is currently a member of the Community and Business Development Committee. Mr. Menkiti is founder and CEO of The Menkiti Group, a values-based real estate services company dedicated to enhancing the fabric of America’s urban communities. Prior to forming The Menkiti Group, Mr. Menkiti served as Chief Operating Officer of College Summit, a national non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the college enrollment rate of low-income students. He also was a founder and managing partner of Keller Williams Capital Properties, a high quality service oriented residential brokerage business. Mr. Menkiti graduated Cum Laude from Harvard University.

Dr. Hassan Minor, Jr., Ph.D., a director since 2008. Dr. Minor is the Senior Vice President of Howard University; his responsibilities include strategic planning, university research and external affairs. He is the University officer charged with the development of the award winning LeDroit Park Initiative and the National Capital Medical Center. He is also the University Chief Technology Officer, and has responsibility for WHUR-FM, the Howard commercial radio station and WHUT-TV, the public television station. Dr. Minor earned his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and later joined the faculty as a professor of organizations and public policy. He served as Assistant for Urban Affairs to the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University and was the Managing Director of The Corporation for Boston, a business think tank established by the MIT faculty. Dr. Minor was a director of GSI, a private company chartered to provide services to government facilities, and was member of the Advisory Council for Fannie Mae’s Washington DC Partnership Office.

C.F. Muckenfuss, III is currently Chairman of the board of directors of the Corporation and the Bank and has been a director since 1998, formerly serving as the Vice Chairman of the Corporation and the Bank.  Mr. Muckenfuss has been a partner of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP since 1981. Previously, he served as Senior Deputy Comptroller for Policy with the OCC, Counsel to the Chairman and Special Assistant to the Director of the FDIC and as an attorney and project developer for the Bedford Stuyvesant D and S Corporation, then the largest Office of Economic Opportunity- funded community development project in the country. Mr. Muckenfuss speaks frequently before industry, legal and academic groups on various banking issues. He received his bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University and law degree from Yale University.

Ellen Seidman has been a director since 2009. Ms. Seidman is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Community Development Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.  Her wide ranging financial industry and regulatory expertise includes serving as the Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), a Director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and a member of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). She has also been a senior official at Fannie Mae, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Transportation. Ms. Seidman chairs the Board of Directors of the Center for Financial Services Innovation and is a member of the Boards of Directors of CARS (the CDFI Assessment and Ratings System) and two major community development loan funds, Coastal Enterprises, Inc. and the Low Income Investment Fund. Ms. Seidman received her bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College, an MBA degree in Finance and Investments from George Washington University and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Advisory Board

Marshall Purnell joined the Board of Directors in 2002 and moved to the Advisory Board in 2008. He currently serves as the President of the American Institute of Architects and is a principal in the well known architectural firm of Devrouax and Purnell in D.C.  

Carmen Ramos-Watson, President and CEO of Quality Management Resources, Inc. a consulting firm that provides marketing and business development services to international firms, Fortune 500 companies and federal and state government agencies.

Andrew E. Tomback is a partner in the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy where he specializes in civil and criminal litigation involving corporate securities transactions.

NOTICE OF EXPIRATION OF THE TEMPORARY FULL FDIC INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR NONINTEREST-BEARING TRANSACTION ACCOUNTS

By operation of federal law, beginning January 1, 2013, funds deposited in a noninterest-bearing transaction account (including an Interest on Lawyer Trust Account) no longer will receive unlimited deposit insurance coverage by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Beginning January 1, 2013, all of a depositor's accounts at an insured depository institution, including all noninterest-bearing transaction accounts, will be insured by the FDIC up to the standard maximum deposit insurance amount ($250,000), for each deposit insurance ownership category.

For more information about FDIC insurance coverage of noninterest-bearing transaction accounts, visit http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/unlimited/expiration.html

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