Cassius Butts

President/CEO, 1st Choice Credit Union

Cassius F. Butts is the President/CEO of 1st Choice Credit Union which serves over 8,000 members located in Atlanta, Ga. He is also the owner of Capital Fortitude Business Advisors, a management-consulting firm located in Atlanta, Georgia that focuses on access to capital and strategic business development endeavors. As an accomplished executive, Mr. Butts served in financial roles with Bank of America, Fleet Bank and two presidential administrations. In 2019, Butts was appointed to lead Governor Kemp’s Small & Minority Owned Business Task Force for the inaugural Georgian’s First Commission. Governor Kemp also appointed Mr. Butts to the Georgia Board of Cemeterians (Consumer Advocate) and the Fort McPherson Local Redeveloping Authority (Chairman).

Mr. Butts is the former Regional Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) appointed by the 44th President of the United States (Obama Administration). It was with SBA where he managed five record-breaking years for SBA lending within the eight southern states. He strategically helped to back over $30 billion dollars to small businesses during his appointment. Mr. Butts previously served as a Presidential Management Fellow under the George W. Bush Administration within the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). He assisted in the establishment of HUD’s multimillion marketing procurement process and was named Branch Chief of the Real Estate Owned division during his tenure.

Mr. Butts is a graduate of Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University’s Graduate School of Public Administration and Emory University’s Osher Life Learning Institute. He enjoys volunteering his time with several organizations including; World Affairs Council (Atlanta), and Board Advisor to the Morehouse College Department of Business & Economics. He has also serves as a Trustee to Morris Brown College, the Florida 8a Association Board, National Black MBA Association Board and the WellStar Health Systems-Research Review Board. Mr. Butts is also a graduate of Leadership Atlanta class of 2012.