The Kresge Foundation welcomed Jeni Norman to its staff earlier this week. She joins the Social Investment Practice as the director of portfolio management.

In this role, Norman will oversee the team managing a portfolio of 100+ program-related investments totaling more than $370 million of active commitments. The money is invested to strengthen neighborhoods and improve the quality of life in America’s cities by addressing barriers to capital.

Before joining Kresge, she was the vice president of finance and administration at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, where she managed finance operations.

Norman’s attention to detail and deep technical experience, paired with her genuine commitment to our mission, will make her an outstanding addition to the team,” said Aaron Seybert, managing director of Kresge’s Social Investment Practice. “I’m immensely grateful and proud to have her at Kresge.”

Norman, a Southeast Michigan native, also previously served as the chief financial officer for M-1 RAIL (aka the QLINE), during design, construction and early operations phases of the project.  At M-1 RAIL, she navigated complex financing transactions, public, private, and philanthropic investments to deliver the streetcar system. The system catalyzed billions in economic development along Detroit’s Woodward Avenue corridor.

Norman will bring similar efficiencies to her new role at Kresge as she focuses on tracking and monitoring investments, managing and projecting cash flow and working with individual investees to support investment objectives.

“I’m inspired by the social investment team’s impact-first ethos and use of creative problem-solving to de-risk transactions that uplift underserved communities,” Norman said. “I look forward to learning from my colleagues, engaging with our portfolio, and eventually developing a framework that helps guide future investments. Having grown up in southeast Michigan, I’m especially eager to contribute to the transformative change Kresge continues to make in our region.”

Norman earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Adrian College. She is a certified public accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA).