Catherine Colyer, COO of WaterEquity, joins New Story’s Board of Directors

We’re excited to welcome Catherine Colyer to the New Story board of directors!

As the chief operating officer (COO) at WaterEquity, an impact investment asset manager formed out of the international non-profit Water.Org, Catherine has played a pivotal role in deploying more than $400 million in private capital towards delivering access to safe water and sanitation. She has more than 25 years of experience in regulatory compliance, financial services, fair lending, and balancing business and legal objectives. 

Our goal is to partner with leaders who have demonstrated substantial social impact, as their experience will drive the highest success in our market-based strategy.

“Catherine’s expertise aligns seamlessly with New Story’s market-driven strategy, positioning her as an ideal addition to our board in our mission to provide transformative housing solutions for millions.”
— Brett Hagler, CEO and co-founder of New Story

WaterEquity’s Impact To Date

Q&A with Catherine

What motivated you to join the New Story board of directors? 

I have seen the difference it makes when a community has the opportunity to meet its own fundamental needs, such as gaining access to safe water. Housing is an equally fundamental need, and New Story is so impressively committed to — and effective at — empowering families to become land and homeowners. I'd like to see New Story continue to scale and succeed, and want to provide any help to that end that I can.     

There is a strong connection between WaterEquity's approach to safe water and sanitation and New Story’s approach to housing. How do you plan to leverage your experience to benefit New Story?  

Like New Story, WaterEquity was a start-up, and we all had to roll up our sleeves, figure out what needed to be done, and how to do it. That is a skillset unto itself (of the Swiss army knife variety)  and there are many best practices and lessons learned that can be shared between organizations that have this history and similar mission. It's a case of going faster and farther together.    

What potential do you see in creating market-based solutions to address the housing crisis? Why is New Story uniquely positioned to do this? 

The capital market is a powerful tool to use to address a crisis like housing in Latin America. New Story has already shown that it knows how to put the market to use to promote economic development, reduce inequality, engage investors to put their capital to its best use, and give individuals and families the opportunity to be consumers and reach their full potential. New Story is getting to the causes of the housing crisis, not just treating the symptoms.