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Reverend Cerita Battles is an itinerant deacon at St. Paul A.M.E. Church, St. Augustine, Florida under the pastoral leadership of the Reverend Ron Rawls.\xa0 At St. Paul A.M.E.C., she leads the Financial Health & Wellness Ministry; she is the adult teacher for Bible Discovery Hour and leads the worship service.\xa0 Cerita answered God\u2019s call to ministry in 2011.

Cerita is a native of St. Augustine, Florida where she currently resides with her husband Ronald Battles and their beautiful 16-year old daughter, Myka Renae.\xa0 She graduated from the University of Phoenix where she earned her Bachelor\u2019s in Business Management.\xa0 Cerita has been in the financial industry for over 31 years and 23 years specifically dedicated to mortgage. \xa0

Cerita recently rejoined JPMorgan Chase as Managing Director, Head of Affordable Lending where she is responsible for leading the execution of strategies to help address historic barriers to homeownership among minorities and low-to-moderate income borrowers and communities.\xa0 Prior to rejoining the firm, Cerita was the Senior Vice President and Head of Retail Diverse Segments for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage for over 9 years. While there, she was responsible for establishing the company\u2019s strategic plan and lending goals to increase and enable sustainable homeownership among low-to-moderate income homebuyers and communities as well as ethnic minority homebuyers across the full economic spectrum.

\xa0Before joining Wells Fargo, Cerita worked for Bank of America as the Centralized Sales Site Executive and a Business Development Executive for 5+ years.\xa0 And, as a former JPMorgan Chase employee, Cerita spent 8+ years as a Business Development Executive with JPMorgan Chase Home Finance. She was responsible for the development, implementation and execution of Multi-cultural and Affordable Lending strategies within Retail, Wholesale and Correspondent channels.

She\u2019s affiliated with several corporate boards within the mortgage industry such as, Freddie Mac\u2019s Advisory Housing Council, Fannie Mae\u2019s Affordable Housing Corporate Board, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals Corporate Board of Governor, National Association of Real Estate Brokers and the Asian Real Estate Association of America\u2019s Housing Advisory Boards and Wells Fargo Home Lending Diversity & Inclusion Council.\xa0 In 2012, she was recognized by the Florida Diversity Council as one of the Most Powerful and Influential Women in the state of Florida.

She\u2019s also a member of several local boards and affiliates.\xa0 Cerita is a lifetime member of Ft Mose Historical Society where she sits on the Advisory Board.\xa0 She\u2019s a charter member and president of the First Coast Chapter of the Charmettes, Inc., which is a 501c3 national organization focused on cancer research and building the health and viability of our community. In 2018, Cerita was inducted into the St. Augustine/Ketterlinus High School Alumni Association\u2019s Hall of Fame. \xa0

Finally, Cerita is a licensed Zumba instructor and lives by this quote \u201cGod created me to serve Him; therefore, what I do personally and professionally can be summed up into one word --- Ministry.\u201d