Institute for Sustainable Investing

Advisory Board Member - Marvin Turner

Marvin W. Turner

Director U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Board Member and Past Chairman of the Board HUD Federal Credit Union
Adjunct Professor, Sustainability & Entrepreneurship University of Maryland

Marvin W. Turner has a long and successful career record as a seasoned senior executive focused on sustainability and ESG thought leadership, governance and asset building across corporate finance, private equity, money management and strategy. Holding senior positions in both the public and private sectors, he currently serves as Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he leads in affordable housing, opportunity zones and development, while helping to transform the housing landscape for improved sustainability solutions.

At HUD, Mr. Turner oversees four divisions with an annual economic output exceeding $1 billion in grants and a combined $43 billion local FHA insurance portfolio housing over 150,000 households. Commencing his tenure with the HUD in the Office of the Secretary, he spent over 10 years in the HUD Headquarters as a liaison to field offices across the nation and served as the chief of emergency preparedness. Likewise, he was a leading strategist in the formation of America's Private Investment Companies., which was developed to provide for significant expansion of private equity capital in light of the creation of large-scale businesses in destitute central cities or rural areas.

Alongside his role as director, Mr. Turner has maintained involvement with Arx Strategies LLC since 2016 and has served as a lecturer for the American Management Association since 2013 and an adjunct professor with the University of Maryland University College since 1997. At the inception of his career in 1988, he served as a financial manager with Bell Atlantic Corp., now known as Verizon, for five years before becoming the chief financial officer for the Local Government Insurance Trust in 1993, where he won national recognition from the Public Risk Management Association. From there, he served as founder and chief executive officer of FinAssets Capital LLC – a global management and financial consultancy – from 1995 to 1999, where he worked with a network of private equity firms and focused on middle market mergers and acquisitions deal flow, among other responsibilities. He has worked on major transactions on five of the seven continents.

A former adjunct professor at American Intercontinental University for two years, Mr. Turner was also the founder and chief executive officer of Black Arrow Advisors Inc. from 2006 to 2010. Earning several designations throughout his career, he was a member of the New York Bar, chartered wealth manager, chartered asset manager, registered financial specialist, associate business continuity specialist, chartered fund specialist, former registered investment advisor, and former holder of Series 7, 63, 65, Life, Health and Real Estate licenses.

Apart from his primary career responsibilities, Mr. Turner has maintained civic engagement through his myriad community roles. Appointed to the National Advisory Council and access to capital committee of the U.S. Small Business Administration, he also served as chair of the supervisory committee and compliance committee of Signal Financial Federal Credit Union. Further, he was chair of the HUD Federal Credit Union board of directors and the Kappa Epsilon Lambda Education Foundation, having also served as vice president of development, treasurer and director of government affairs for the D.C. chapter of the National Black MBA Association. Other organizations and facilities with which Mr. Turner has been associated include the Government Finance Officers Association, Community of Hope Inc., the Federal Radiological Preparedness Coordinating Committee, the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, the Greater Washington Urban League and Alpha Phi Alpha.

As a testament to his success and longevity in the industry, Mr. Turner has accrued a plethora of accolades and honors. Presented with the Elizabeth B. Adams Memorial Award, he was named among Outstanding Young Men of America and is a Community Builders Fellow. Recognized as a Global Goodwill Ambassador, he was also named a Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers Outstanding Partner. In spite of these exceptional honors, however, Mr. Turner cites the highlight of his career to be when he was recruited to lead the HUD's response and recovery after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Though the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not yet exist, Mr. Turner and other executive branch agencies contributed to the recovery and clean-up efforts. His efforts were thus utilized in the areas of departmental operations, affected housing and economic impacts. In light of his unwavering dedication to the cause, Mr. Turner was nationally recognized by the public and governmental eyes alike.