Ron Grzywinski
Ron Grzywinski | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1936 South Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Community development banker |
| Known for | Co-founder of ShoreBank, advocate for the Community Reinvestment Act |
Ron Grzywinski is a Chicago-based community development banker and co-founder of ShoreBank. He stepped down as chair of ShoreBank Corporation in May 2010 and subsequently took on the role of Advisor to its Board of Directors.
Early life and career
Ron was born in 1936 in the South Chicago neighborhood of Chicago. His banking career began at First National Bank of Lockport, after which he joined Hyde Park Bank in 1967.
In 1973, together with Milton Davis, James Fletcher, and Mary Houghton, Ron acquired South Shore Bank—later renamed ShoreBank—located in Chicago’s South Shore area, with the goal of addressing redlining. ShoreBank became the nation’s first community development bank and evolved into a prominent institution in community development and microfinance, known for successfully blending social objectives with financial sustainability.
Work with ShoreBank
Ron was the only banking professional to testify in support of the Community Reinvestment Act in 1977, legislation requiring banks to serve the credit needs of all community segments, including low- and moderate-income populations. His advocacy played a key role in the Act’s enactment that year.
In the 1980s, Ron worked alongside Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh, supported by a Ford Foundation grant, to assist in establishing the Grameen Bank.
He also collaborated with then-Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas in 1985 to create the Southern Development Bancorporation, a community development bank focused on rural Arkansas.
In 1997, Ron was instrumental in founding ShoreBank Pacific, recognized as the first U.S. commercial bank dedicated exclusively to environmentally sustainable development.
Under Ron’s guidance, ShoreBank grew into an institution managing $1.9 billion in assets and financed the acquisition and rehabilitation of 49,000 affordable housing units. Between 2001 and 2006, it issued nearly $900 million in loans across Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland.
Boards and Committees
Ron holds board positions with several organizations including the Southern Development Bancorporation (Arkansas), Grameen Bank and BRAC (Bangladesh), XacBank (Mongolia), the Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan), and the Ashoka Global Academy (India). He is a charter member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion and serves as a judge for the Corporate Conscience Awards hosted by Social Accountability International.
Awards and honors
Ron has been honored repeatedly for his pioneering work in community development banking. In 1988, he received the Medal for Entrepreneurial Excellence from the Yale School of Management. Northern Michigan University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2001.
In 2005, Ron was presented with the John W. Gardner Leadership Award by the Independent Sector, recognizing his transformative impact on underserved communities and his global contributions to community development banking—the first honoree from a for-profit business background.
Together with ShoreBank co-founder Mary Houghton, he earned Harvard University’s Gleitsman Citizen Activist Award in 2006 for efforts revitalizing urban neighborhoods. That same year, he was honored with the Ethics Award from Western Illinois University and delivered a keynote address at Oxford University’s Skoll World Forum.
In October 2007, Ron was inducted into the Affordable Housing Finance Hall of Fame and was named among "America's Top Leaders 2007" by U.S. News & World Report in November. He received the Hesburgh Award for Ethics in Business from the University of Notre Dame in 2008.