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28 The Exchange Robert Hutchins is Managing Director of the Ellavoz Shared Values Opportunity Fund, and President and CEO of Ellavoz Impact Capital. e company sponsors and manages the Ellavoz Shared Values Opportunity Fund and the Ellavoz Impact Angel Network. Hutchins is a retired Partner of WithumSmith+Brown (WSB), a regional CPA firm with approximately 1,300 employees. He graduated from St. Peter's College and began his professional career with Price Waterhouse in Hackensack, New Jersey. Prior to combining his accounting practice with WSB, he was Managing Partner of Hutchins, Farrell, Meyer & Allison. Hutchins is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, as well as the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts. Hutchins recently joined DS5 to discuss the options available in Opportunity Zones and how investing in them can profoundly impact communities nationwide. Could you discuss how Ellavoz's Shared Values Opportunity Fund is working to leverage Opportunity Zone investment for the betterment of communities? Our mission with Ellavoz Impact Capital is to drive private capital to distressed asset communities. Ellavoz Shared Values Opportunity Fund, along with our not-for- profit partners, New Jersey Community Capital and Community Asset Protection Corporation has created a low-risk superior market return asset class for accredited investors. at is a great incentive for direct participation and rebuilding great American communities. We function very similar to a family office, real estate investment club. ereby, affording a vehicle for our high- net-worth accredited individuals to directly invest and to see the tangible benefits they are making in communities. We've leveraged various financing to our community development financing institution, New Jersey Community Capital. We have no carried interest or promote fees to provide an economical, efficient investment vehicle for these angel investors. We call them "Ellavoz Impact Angel Network Investors." We pass on all of these high- value add efficiencies to our investors from ground acquisition, to rehab or construction, or property management, to exit after 10 years. at is the time period investors will hold their investment in our fund in order to gain the benefits of complete exclusion from taxation for federal and most state tax authorities. Can you detail just how the Ellavoz Impact Angel Network works? It's somewhat unique and somewhat similar to many angel groups that exist in that we invest alongside each other. We draw on the expertise and experience of each of our members. Our three Opportunity Zone Funds, and soon to launch social impact Ellavoz Neighborhood Homes Fund, are real estate-focused with a goal of 80% affordable residential workforce and 20% nonresidential. We are looking at mixed-use projects and industrial, maybe some commercial as well, to not only provide housing but also some economic development in the areas we are targeting. We are very much like a family office, real estate investment club. Each of us have the same direct investment opportunity to any deal that's brought to the group. Ellavoz Impact Capital is the management firm for the funds. My investment and any other Angel's investments are treated exactly the same. If you invest $1 and I invest $1, you're going to pay exactly the same fees that I pay, which are low compared to industry. You're going to receive exactly the same proceeds on your dollar that I receive on my dollar, so it's very much a direct investment. Robert Hutchins President and CEO, Ellavoz Impact Capital Get to Know Industry Executives Beyond the Boardroom "We take a very strategic business approach to our investments, as opposed to a more transactional hit- and-run type."