Elizabeth Van Benschoten

Elizabeth Van Benschoten joined BRIDGE as Senior Vice President, Capital Markets, in March 2024. She is responsible for overseeing all aspects of BRIDGE’s capital markets activities. Her day-to-day role includes developing and executing strategies to raise capital, managing relationships with investors and financial institutions, and optimizing the organization’s capital structure to support growth and expansion initiatives.

Ms. Van Benschoten is in her second tour of duty at BRIDGE, having previously served as a Senior Vice President from 2013 to 2016 leading BRIDGE’s U.S. Treasury Certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) affiliate. She also created a privately offered workforce housing private equity fund, and managed BRIDGE’s New Markets Tax Credit program.

After departing BRIDGE in 2016, Ms. Van Benschoten served as a Managing Director at Union Bank’s Community Development Finance division, where she sourced, underwrote, and closed multifamily affordable housing construction loans while investing in tax credit equity (LIHTC). She also oversaw account planning, pipelines, and market presentations within commercial real estate.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Van Benschoten held several roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Ms. Van Benschoten earned a B.A. in Political Science and Women’s Studies from Brown University and an MBA from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, with an emphasis on real estate and social impact investing. She also holds a Professional Certificate in Cryptocurrency from MIT Media Lab. Ms. Van Benschoten serves on the Board of Directors of the Oakland Fund for Public Innovation.