Regional Director, AfricaKiva
As the Africa Regional Director for Kiva, Cher is responsible for establishing regional strategy and overseeing the portfolio of financial access, clean energy, education and agriculture investments across Africa. Cher began her career in microfinance working with the Grameen Foundation, creating a strategic plan to support their rural outreach efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa. She managed the opening of a bank branch in the Democratic Republic of Congo for FINCA International, where she was responsible for all initial operations, strategic planning and expansion, and managing the loan portfolio. She spent several years as a consultant with Spitfire Strategies, working to build the strategic communications capacity of nonprofit organizations. Most recently she oversaw all financial and grant-making operations for the international offices of the Institute for Sustainable Communities. Cher has a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Wake Forest University and an MBA from Yale School of Management and is fluent in French.