Seal of Excellence: Leadership and Team

The Steering Committee

Established in December 2010, the Seal of Excellence for Poverty Outreach Steering Committee is composed of a diverse group of industry leaders. A list of the current committee members can be found below.  

• Isabelle Barrès, Director, Smart Campaign, Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION, United States
• JD Bergeron, Director, Seal of Excellence for Poverty Outreach, United States
• Alex Counts, President and CEO, Grameen Foundation, United States
• Sam Daley-Harris, Founder and Director, Center for Citizen Empowerment and Transformation, United States
• Frank DeGiovanni, Director of Financial Assets, Ford Foundation, United States
• Chris Dunford, Senior Research Fellow, Freedom from Hunger, United States
• Laura Foose, Director, Social Performance Task Force, United States
• Sarah Gelfand, Director of the Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), Global Impact Investing Network, United States
• Geeta Goel, Portfolio Director, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, India
• Kenlor Howells, Redcamif, Costa Rica
• Antonique Koning, Microfinance Specialist, CGAP, Belgium
• Asad Mahmood, Director, Community Development Group, Deutsche Bank, United States
• Larry Reed, Director, Microcredit Summit Campaign, United States
• Frances Sinha, Director, EDA Rural Systems, India
• Premal Shah, President, Kiva, United States

Practitioner and Technical Advisors to the Steering Committee

• John de Wit, Managing Director, Small Enterprise Foundation, South Africa
• Anne Hastings, CEO, Fonkoze, Haiti
• Carmen Velasco, Co-founder and Director, Pro Mujer, Inc., Peru
• Scott Gaul, Director of Analysis and Product Development Manager, MIX, United States

The Technical Committee

Established in the fall of 2011 by the Steering Committee, the Technical Committee consists of raters, researchers and others experienced with assessing the performance of MFIs.

• Fabiola Cespedes, Social Performance Coordinator, FOROLACFR, Bolivia
• Scott Gaul, Director of Analysis and Product Development Manager, MIX, United States
• Bobbi Gray, Research & Evaluation Specialist, Freedom from Hunger, United States
• Micol Guarneri, Director of SPM services, Microfinanza Srl, Italy
• Emmanuelle Javoy, Managing Director, PlaNet Rating, France
• Cécile Lapenu, Director, Cerise, France
• Aldo Moauro, Founder and Executive Director, MicroFinanza Rating, Italy
• Micol Pistelli, Director of Social Performance, MIX, United States
• Tomás Rodríguez, Central American Coordinator, Programa Misión, Nicaragua
• Anton Simanowitz, SPM Specialist, Oikocredit,  England
• Frances Sinha*, Director, EDA Rural Systems, India
• Carmen Velasco, Co-founder and Director, Pro Mujer, Inc.

* Chair of the Technical Committee

Secretariat

The Seal has its administrative home at the Microcredit Summit Campaign. 

• JD Bergeron, Director, Seal of Excellence
• Bridget Dougherty, Program Associate, Seal of Excellence
• Larry Reed, Director, Microcredit Summit Campaign
• Lisa Laegreid, Deputy Director, Microcredit Summit Campaign
• Sue Casey, Executive Assistant, Microcredit Summit Campaign