Nedra Sims Fears

Nedra Sims Fears is the Executive Director of the Greater Chatham Initiative (GCI). Fears is an economic development expert who specializes in strategic planning, financial modeling, community development financing, and program management.

During the last recession she as a business development internal consultant with First Children’s Finance, Fears improved the operations of 45 early care and education centers managed by universities, public school systems, and private owners. She utilized research-based curriculum and program evaluation benchmarks. Centers had gains in revenue, net income, operating reserves, and market share; decreased delinquent accounts; and/or improved educational outcomes.

Earlier in her career Fears financed $1 billion in low- and moderate-income single-family and multi-family housing for Fannie Mae, City of Chicago Department of Housing and Community Investment Corporation.

Fears is a National Committee member for Middle Neighborhoods—an entity that promotes middle neighborhoods. She is a Harvard Loeb Fellow. Fears holds a BS from Cornell University in Interior Architecture and an MBA in finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She had an ideal childhood in the Chatham community and recently purchased and rehabbed Ernie Banks former house a few blocks from her family home for her big multi-generational family. She’s married with two young adult daughters.