ROBERT C. FARMER, JR., PRINCIPAL

Robert C. Farmer, Jr. is a co-founder responsible for overseeing the overall operating activities of CCP.  Mr. Farmer oversees the strategic direction of the firm, including new business development, capital procurement, and community sector/public sector support formulation.

Prior to co-founding CCP, Mr. Farmer held various management positions during an 11- year career in community economic development and commercial banking.  He has amassed considerable construction financing experience at all stages of projects.  Prior to his full-time status at Community Capital Partners, he was with First Union National Bank (now Wachovia), where, as Sales Manager, he oversaw the entire Community Development Finance sales force for the states of Pennsylvania and Delaware.  He was responsible for credit analysis, plan & cost review, appraisal review and loan documentation coordination for a sales team that concentrated solely on revitalizing low-to-moderate income areas.  Prior to joining First Union, Mr. Farmer was the Executive Director of North Philadelphia Financial Partnership, a $10 million Community Development Financial Institution that funded commercial projects within Philadelphia’s North Central Empowerment Zone and was in commercial banking both with PNC Bank and Summit Bancorp, now Bank of America.

Mr. Farmer’s expertise in Community Economic Development has been recognized by such organizations as Pennsylvania Department of Community Economic Development, where he was appointed by Governor Tom Ridge to serve on the Community Development Bank’s Operating Committee, the City of Philadelphia, which invited him as a member of the New Economy Transition team under the John F. Street Administration, and The Development Fund, a San Francisco-based non-profit where he sat as a member of its Board of Directors.  In 2003, Mr. Farmer was an invited guest and panelist of New School University’s Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy’s Reality Check Conference.  Mr. Farmer is also the founder of Sphinx Group, Inc., a strategic community development consulting firm with clientele throughout the United States.

Mr. Farmer is a 1989 graduate from the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics, concentrating in Finance.