Renew Financial Names Mary Luévano Southern California Regional Director for CaliforniaFIRST PACE Program

OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Renew Financial, a leading provider of financing for home improvements, today announced that Mary Luévano has joined the company as Southern California Regional Director.

Renew Financial's PACE financing program, CaliforniaFIRST, provides property owners with 100% of the funds they need to make efficiency and resilience home upgrades, such as installing new roof, doors, windows, air conditioning and insulation. Property owners pay nothing upfront, later paying for the home improvement in installments on their property tax bill over an extended period of time at a fixed interest rate. By eliminating the upfront cost barrier of home improvement, CaliforniaFIRST puts comfort and security in reach for more Americans.

PACE financing, including CaliforniaFIRST, is a private/public partnership: PACE is enabled within local jurisdictions by local governments. As Southern California Regional Director, Ms. Luévano will work with local government leaders to maximize the benefits of PACE for local communities: job creation, conservation of energy and water, increased homeowner comfort and enhanced resilience against earthquakes.

"We're thrilled to have Mary join our team at Renew Financial," said Cliff Staton, Executive Vice President at Renew Financial. "Her experience working at the intersection of public policy and sustainability will bring enormous value to local governments seeking to maximize the economic and environmental benefits of PACE for their constituents."

Immediately prior to joining Renew Financial, Ms. Luévano served as Assistant Director of Federal Relations at UCLA, focusing on the University's environmental sustainability research portfolio. Prior to that role, she held multiple titles at Global Green USA, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit dedicated to helping cities, schools, and affordable housing entities achieve sustainability and resilience goals. At Global Green USA, Ms. Luévano's successes led to multiple promotions, culminating in a position as Vice President of the nonprofit. Earlier, Ms. Luévano held roles in the offices of multiple US Members of Congress. In 2015, Ms. Luévano was appointed by the California Speaker of the Assembly to a four-year term as California Coastal Commissioner. During Ms. Luévano's term as Coastal Commissioner, she aims to protect and enhance California's coastline.

"I'm excited to begin this new phase of my career here at Renew Financial," said Ms. Luévano. "PACE is the most successful efficiency and resilience program in California history, and I'm proud to join the team that first made it available to California families. With Governor Brown signing into law new industry standards and consumer protections to strengthen PACE, I'm looking forward to working with Southern California's community leaders in the days ahead. Together, we can help our communities achieve all the economic and environmental benefits that PACE has to offer."

Renew Financial's CEO, Cisco DeVries, originated the concept of PACE financing in 2008. Since then, the firm has financed over 23,000 property improvement projects using the PACE model. By injecting $570,000,000 of private capital directly into American neighborhoods, Renew Financial estimates that it has created 8,000 steady jobs – including 2,700 jobs in Los Angeles County. Home improvements financed by Renew Financial will save an estimated 1.4 billion gallons of water and prevent 860,000 metric tons of carbon emissions.

About Renew Financial
Renew Financial Group LLC ("Renew Financial") is one of the nation's leading home improvement financing companies. Renew Financial administers and provides multiple financing products across the country, with programs available in several states, including the administration of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs operating in California and Florida. PACE is a financing tool enabled by state and local governments that provides homeowners and business owners with access to private capital to finance the entire cost of renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation, seismic, and wind mitigation upgrades, and then pay for those upgrades on their property tax bill. PACE was named by Scientific American as one of the "top 20 ideas that can change the world." PACE is a job-creating policy tool that enjoys broad support, having been championed in state legislatures and local communities nationwide by business leaders, advocacy organizations and elected officials from both sides of the aisle.

Renew Financial is a pending trademark of Renew Financial Holdings Inc.

Additional information may be found at: renewfinancial.com | @RenewFinancial | LinkedIn | Facebook | Blog 

SOURCE Renew Financial