Amber Seely, Managing Partner + Team Lead
Amber has a background in community development finance. Starting her career at an economic consulting firm and moving on to Corporate America at Deloitte and Touche, Amber found that the traditional problem solving and top-down analysis she was practicing failed to reach down to the experiences of individual people and communities. She then turned to entrepreneurship and small business development. There she saw that employment is just one facet of a healthy home and a thriving community. Amber then found her mission in the world of community development uniting big-picture policy objectives with individual people and neighborhoods. Working in community development and real estate finance for the last 5 years, Amber has worked in both the public and non-profit sectors and brings a sharp analytical and “underwriting” mind to the Spark InSites team. Amber was the Finance Program Director for Renaissance Neighborhood Development, a subsidiary of Volunteers of America, here in New Orleans for 4 years where she secured the financing for 350 units now in operation, 150 under construction, and another 240 in predevelopment.
Spark InSites is the second business Amber has started. The first, an online retail website, TolkienTown.com, began in 2002. Amber led purchasing, operations, and strategic growth for the business which grew to $3 million in annual sales in 3 years and continues to operate today. Amber also worked in the Economic Development and Real Estate department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey developing the organization’s underutilized, and sometimes environmentally contaminated assets into commercial developments and employment centers. Amber has also worked on various community development finance mechanisms like New Market Tax Credits, Business Improvement Districts, various Small Business Finance tools, and Cost Benefit Analysis.
Amber has a BA in International Affairs from Gordon College and a Masters in Urban Policy with a focus in Community Development Finance from Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy. She also has a certificate in Urban Redevelopment Excellence from the University of Pennsylvania.
Amber serves on the board of the Louisiana Association of Affordable Housing Providers, NOLA Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals (YURP) and Make New Orleans Home. She is the immediate past Chair of the Policy committee of the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA). Amber was selected as one of New Orleans local newspaper The Gambit’s 2009 “40 under 40.” Amber is co-author on a recently published article in Economic Development Quarterly about the supply and demand of small business financing in New York City.
Favorite street in NOLA:
Esplanade Avenue
Favorite restaurant in NOLA:
Matt and Naddie's
Where I was when the Saints won the Super Bowl:
House of Blues in the French Quarter