Cat Berman

Catherine “Cat” Berman is CEO and co-founder of CNote, a women-led fintech platform that she launched in 2016 with a mission to close the wealth gap through financial innovation. She left a Managing Director role at Charles Schwab after realizing that Community Development Financial Institutions, the federally certified lenders already serving communities that mainstream banks had abandoned, were invisible to the vast majority of investors. The barrier was not interest. It was access. So she built a technology platform to remove it.

CNote deploys corporate and individual cash into loan funds and insured deposit products at impact-driven community financial institutions, advancing economic equality, racial justice, gender equity, and climate solutions. Corporate leaders including Apple, Mastercard, Patagonia, PayPal, and Netflix use CNote’s platform to support low-income communities and communities of color while earning competitive returns.

Cat was named the 2025 Leading Light Award winner by Treasury Today’s Women in Treasury Awards. MasterCard featured her as a pioneering female entrepreneur in a campaign that appeared on Times Square and in the New York Times. A three-time entrepreneur, she has spent her career proving that you do not have to choose between financial performance and community impact.

We are honored to celebrate her here.