Rex Fowler is the founding executive director and current CEO of Hartford Community Loan Fund, a community development financial institution with a mission to provide and promote just and affordable financial services for the benefit of low wealth residents in Hartford. Originally from Missouri, Rex moved to Connecticut to pursue a career in banking and corporate finance. Ten years and three mergers later, he left banking to move into the not-for-profit sector.
In 2003, Rex sold his house in Hartford’s southend and moved in with the crew at the Hartford Catholic Worker in the city’s Northeast neighborhood. While he no longer lives at the Worker, his time there opened his eyes to the struggles and joys experienced by those living on the margins in the most economically distressed neighborhood in Connecticut’s capital city. He continues to live in the Northeast neighborhood and can’t imagine living anywhere else.