SAIO 50 for 50: Christina Sauve
This Week's Spotlight: Christina Sauve ('03, B.A. Psychology)\
Sauve (Mohawk) is the first female CEO of Cooperative Federal, a community development financial institution in Syracuse, New York. At Coop Fed, she has advanced homeownership and quality housing initiatives; nurtured neighborhood-based health, literacy, and social services; contributed to the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem; honored the history of the region’s Indigenous Peoples; and made the financial services industry more responsive and accountable to the communities it serves.
Sauve was instrumental in developing Coop Fed’s outreach and service programs to the Latinx community, earning the credit union its Juntos Avanzamos designation from Inclusiv. Her leadership in planning and opening a Coop Fed branch office co-located with the Syracuse Housing Authority’s Central Office has expanded access to asset-building and banking services in a predominantly Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community. Sauve launched Coop Fed’s Business Opportunity Fund, which has invested over $1.4 million in minority/woman owned businesses and high-poverty communities. And during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sauve led Coop Fed’s efforts to direct over $615,000 in economic relief funding to small business members and nonprofits.
Sauve also serves on the boards of the Westcott Community Development Corporation and Home HeadQuarters and as a trustee of the NY Credit Union Foundation. This year she was recognized as one of The Central New York Business Journal’s 40 under 40.