Vincent DiCara has been involved in evaluating and meeting the credit needs of small and medium-sized businesses for over thirty years as a business advocate, lender, credit analyst, and trainer. Since 1995, he has been providing expert training for lending professionals throughout the country who work in the public, private non-profit, and private sectors. Mr. DiCara’s training programs have become known for their ability to foster an informal and participatory environment in which students are empowered to learn. Mr. DiCara was an owner and founder of Development Finance Training and Consulting, Inc. which he established in 2003. Upon leaving DFTC in early 2013, Mr. DiCara established DiCara Training and Consulting, LLC where he continues to provide the highest quality services to his clients in the banking, credit union, and economic development sectors. Mr. DiCara has developed a number of partnerships with organizations whose missions include training and education. He is a co-creator and faculty member of the Credit Union National Association’s (CUNA) Business Lending Certification Institute. He has also established relationships with chapters of the Center for Financial Training (CFT) and state banking associations throughout the country. Mr. DiCara also serves as a faculty member of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation and has developed a number of courses that he regularly teaches for that organization. In addition to his experience as a financial trainer, Mr. DiCara also provides consulting services to banks, credit unions, economic development organizations and other lenders who require assistance in developing, implementing, monitoring and reviewing their loan practices and portfolios. He has conducted a number of loan reviews for small-to-medium sized lending institutions who have small business loan clients. Mr. DiCara also serves as a loan practitioner and on a consulting basis provides commercial loan officer services to the Greater Portland Council of Governments (GPCOG), the Portland (ME.) Development Corporation (PDC), and the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments (KVCOG). His specific responsibilities include loan underwriting, liaison to financial institutions, and the structuring of complex financing packages that utilize multiple sources of funds from the private and public sectors. Mr. DiCara is also an active contributor in the community in which he lives and has served as a Board member and fundraiser for a number of different private non-profit organizations. In 2013, he served as the Campaign Chair for the United Way of Mid Coast Maine’s Annual Campaign, which raised $1,933,300 to support organizations that provide social services to a wide variety of area residents. Since early in 2014, he has also been a member of the Brunswick Development Corporation (BDC), a private non-profit development corporation that provides loans and grants to Brunswick businesses and non-profit organizations. In 1996 and 2006 he served as the United Way Campaign Chair for the United Way of Kennebec Valley. Mr. DiCara is a graduate of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine and received a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Maine. He has also received the designation of Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP) from the National Development Council. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, he has been a resident of the State of Maine for more than forty-five years, where he resides in the Town of Brunswick with his wife of forty years.