INEZ LONG

PRESIDENT & CEO, BLACK BUSINESS INVESTMENT FUND, ORLANDO

Long, who died in July, led the BBIF for three decades. The private nonprofit loan fund provides loans and financial technical assistance services to Black, minority and underserved small businesses throughout Florida and has provided more than 1,100 loans totaling $86.8 million. Long led the fund through its certification by the federal Treasury Department as a Community Development Financial Institution in 1994. Long’s more than 35 years in the financial services industry began in commercial banking in credit management and commercial lending at what were then called Florida National Bank, First Union and SunTrust banks in Orlando. She’s in the UCF College of Business Hall of Fame.