MEDIA KIT & PROMOTIONAL GUIDELINES

Chief Executive Officer

Ines Polonius

Ines Polonius, Chief Executive Officer of Communities Unlimited, joined the organization in 2014 and works out of the Fayetteville, Arkansas, office.

She has been active in national and international economic development for over 30 years. She has dedicated her career to accelerating community economic development in persistently poor, rural places in the South. She leads Communities Unlimited, a CDFI dedicated to moving rural and under-resourced communities in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama toward prosperity.

She received a Master of Business Administration degree and a Master of Economics degree from Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts, and a certificate in Public and Not-for-Profit Management. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. 

Director of Community Sustainability

Martha Claire Bullen

Martha Clare Bullen is the Director of Community Sustainability.

She has a strong history of working with communities. She is skilled in strategic planning, public speaking and research. Martha has a Master’s Degree that is focused in Educational Leadership and Administration from Mississippi College and is the previous Community Development Director for the Foundation for the Mid-South. 

Director of Lending

Bryn Bagwell

Bryn Bagwell, Director of Lending based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, began at Communities Unlimited in January 2021.

She leads the lending team and manages Communities Unlimited CDFI assets in support of mission-based lending. The CDFI includes small business, consumer and commercial portfolios with assets in excess of $17 million. She is also in charge of Communities Unlimited PPP lending program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She has extensive experience in banking and lending. 

She has a bachelor of arts degree in Psychology-Religion and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She graduated from the Mid-South School of Banking in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1990 and the American Institute of Banking in Norman, Oklahoma, in Commercial Lending in 1992. 

Healthy Foods Coordinator

Brenda Williams

Brenda Williams is the Healthy Foods Coordinator for Communities Unlimited. 

Brenda is responsible for managing the Food LINC program, a value chain initiative focused on increasing access to and availability of healthy foods for residents of food deserts in the Memphis Mid-south region. This initiative also includes outreach to minority and small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs to encourage their participation in local food production. She also coordinated the Farm to Food Pantry Program, which purchased food from small-grow farmers through a grant from the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and donated it to local food pantries.  

Previously, Brenda was the manager of graduate programs for The University of Memphis Fogelman College of Business of Economics. Brenda received her B.S. from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and her master of business administration degree from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.  

Director of Entrepreneurship

Cynthia Terry

Cynthia Terry, Director of Entrepreneurship, has been managing Tennessee entrepreneurship programs for Communities Unlimited since June 2004.

Her work includes management consulting with business clients and managing the entrepreneurship team. Together, they serve small business owners onsite and virtually in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.

She also leads the development of new partner relationships, programs responsive to entrepreneur and local community needs (e.g. MEMShops) and funding development. Cynthia is an entrepreneur herself, having started her own successful business.

She has a master’s in business administration and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Memphis in Tennessee.

Area Director Broadband

Catherine Krantz

Catherine Krantz started working at Communities Unlimited in November 2022. She is the Area Director for Broadband. Catherine manages the implementation of broadband strategy by developing and submitting grant proposals to ensure equitable accessibility to infrastructure and funding for disadvantaged families in rural communities throughout CU’s footprint.

Before coming to CU, Catherine worked as a Broadband Solutions Manager for Connected Nation.

Catherine has a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.P.A Master of Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington.  

Senior Director

Thomas Ricks

Tommy Ricks, Senior Director of Environmental Services and Housing, based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, joined Communities Unlimited in 1997.

He has worked with community development and community environmental management services for more than 32 years. He directly supports and directs staff in seven southern states in assisting more than 500 communities each year. He has been licensed by Mississippi as a certified water operator since 1990. He earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, in 1993.

He served in the U.S. Army and the Mississippi Army National Guard, obtaining the rank of Sergeant with 10 years of service before being honorably discharged in 1992.

Area Director of Rural Housing

Audra Butler

Audra Butler is a non-profit leader and program director with more than a decade in subsidized and affordable housing leadership and homeless advocacy. Over the last 10 years, Audra has worked with nonprofits and organizations focused on creating pathways out of poverty. As the Area Director of Rural Housing for Communities Unlimited, Audra is focused on efforts that will help to close the information gap between urban and rural housing issues and creating a portfolio of impactful initiatives that address the unique challenges and opportunities within rural areas.

Audra formerly served as the Interim Director and Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Fayetteville Housing Authority. While there, Audra led the organization through leadership transitions and organizational restructuring, stabilizing operations and allowing the team of housing professionals to continue providing services to thousands of Arkansans in Northwest Arkansas. Audra also served as the Chief Operations Officer for Community Programs at ARVAC, a community action agency in central Arkansas, directing operations in 9 counties and expanding the organization’s homeless services and transitional living program.