Advisory Board

John Kinnaird is a Vice President and Trust Officer at Community Bank & Trust, where he serves as one of the firm’s investment portfolio managers. He is a Baylor University Graduate and is a CFA Charter holder and is currently working towards fostering financial empowerment programs and policies within the community in conjunction with Prosper Waco, the community’s collective impact initiative. His desire for effective and lasting change can be seen in his previous work in the community, such as:

• Former Waco City Councilman
• Chair at Waco McLennan County Public Health District
• Chair at Waco Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Chair at Downtown Waco Cultural District Committee
• Chair McLennan County Appraisal District
• Board of the National League of Cities
• Waco Symphony Board
• H.O.T. Community Loan Center and Baylor Club
• Member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Committee

His interest in advising for the McLennan Community Investment Fund arises from his desire to see broader, safe, and affordable financial services be made available to those who traditionally have been cut off from such services in the community, especially as it relates to equitable small business development.

Fernando serves as an Advisory Board Member at McCIF and the Chief of Staff of Waco Family Medicine where he supports healthcare workers to keep the community safe and healthy. He graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and an MBA. From there, Fernando pursued his Masters in Educational Administration at Concordia University. His interest in bettering the community was fostered through his experiences serving as a global business and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) consultant and advisor for a Fortune 50 high-tech firm, as well as a public and private school educator and administrator, an organizer who mobilized community members, and a nonprofit leader who catalyzed socioeconomic betterment initiatives.

Some of the ways he currently is involved in the Waco community include:

• Finishing multiple terms on the City of Waco Building and Standards Commission
• Championing entrepreneurs on the StartUp Waco founding board
• Board member of Inspiración Waco
• Board member of City Center Waco

For fun, you can find him enjoying live music, hiking with his children, perfecting (or unintentionally ruining) Yucatec Cuisine, or raising pond koi fish.

Jo Welter serves as an Advisory Board Member at McCIF. She studied at University of Wisconsin and Baylor University where she majored in Botany and Spanish and went on to work in residential and commercial property management, community relations, and healing from racism since 1993. Her interest in nonprofit began working with race relations. For the last four years, Jo has been one of the frontrunners of the establishment of Texas State Historical Commission Memorial acknowledging lynching culture in Central Texas and providing workshops on race and teamwork to various community businesses and organizations.

Some of her previous experiences working with the Waco community include:

• Baha’i Race Unity Committee
• Annual Race Unity Forum Community Race Relations
• Lynching Issue Task Force: working with the City of Waco and McLennan County Commisssioners Court Resolutions Composure 2006 and 2007
• 2010 CRRC/Baylor collaboration Church Swap
• Commemoration of the Jesse Washington Lynching in 2016
• Cultural Arts of Waco
• Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Baylor University
• Waco Immigration Alliance
• McLennan Community College
• Chair at the Board of Directors for Community Race Relations Coalition of Waco
• NAACP Community Service Award in 2018

Jo has been married to her husband, Tim Welter, for 44 years, and they have three children, two of whom are adopted.

Kay Bell serves McCIF as an Advisory Board Member. She is deeply rooted into the Waco community, being here since 2018, and cares deeply about helping the community learn how to eat from the land. With her Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education and a minor in English from Paul Quinn College, Kay went on to teach for 27 years at LaVega Intermediate school and went on to be the director of Global Revive Children Summer Camp for the years 2016-19. Alongside her teaching, she is heavily involved in organizations around the city, even starting her own. Kay is the founder of the Global Revive Organization, the East Waco Farmer’s Market, and the Inclusion Luncheon of the National Women in Agricultural Association. Within that, she also founded the Learning Important Farming Training Skills for New and Beginning Farmers. Other signs of involvement include:

• Texas President of National Women in Agricultural Association
• Board Member of Baylor University Collaborative Hunger Initiative
• Waco Downtown and East Waco Farmers Market
• Waco Rose Society
• American Community Garden Association

Kay also has impressive achievements, such as the Cen-Tex Chamber of Commerce 2017 Citizen of the Year Award, Minority Landowners Magazine 2018 Farmer of the Year Award, Landowners Association of Texas 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award, and speaking at both the Texas Organic Farmers Association Conference in 2018 and the SWAG Conference in 2019. Her passion for McCIF comes from wanting to eliminate the food desert problem for East Waco. In all, her passion is to help the community grow, and she believes that there is no culture without agriculture.