Management Team
ACCION International's senior management team and board of directors bring to the organization diverse experience from both the private and public sectors, including commercial and investment banking, corporate and nonprofit management, and international community development.
Michael Schlein
President & CEO
Esteban A. Altschul
Chief Operating Officer
Mary Chaffin
General Counsel
Susan Clancy
Chief Financial Officer
Enrique Ferraro
Managing Director, ACCION Investments
Roy Jacobowitz
Managing Director, Resource Development
Bruce MacDonald
Senior Vice President, Communications
Elisabeth Rhyne
Managing Director, Center for Financial Inclusion
Catherine Quense
Chief Administrative Officer
Michael Schlein
President and CEO
Michael Schlein, named president and CEO of ACCION in September 2009, brings 25 years of extensive international banking, management and public service experience to the microfinance organization.
Formerly President of Citigroup’s International Franchise Management unit, Mr. Schlein helped manage the bank’s network of 100 Chief Country Officers, who were responsible for performance, regulatory relations, governance and reputational risk in their respective countries. In previous roles, Mr. Schlein also oversaw Citi's Human Resources and Global Corporate Affairs. A member of Citigroup's Operating Committee, he served as Executive Director of Citi’s Business Practices Committee, and as a Director of Citibank, N.A., Poland’s Bank Handlowy and Citibank Korea, Inc.
Prior to his senior posts at Citi, Mr. Schlein served as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as Chief of Staff for the New York City Deputy Mayor for Finance and Economic Development. He began his career in public finance investment banking at Smith Barney.
Mr. Schlein has been involved with microfinance for years through both Citi and ACCION. He has played a leadership role at the Citi Foundation, which has a long history of funding microfinance initiatives, and he has served on the Board, and more recently the Executive Committee, of ACCION International. Mr. Schlein also sits on the board of nonprofit organizations Wildcat Service Corporation. He is a corporate member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Business Council of the Asia Society.
Mr. Schlein holds a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1984. He resides with his family in New York.
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Esteban A. Altschul
Chief Operating Officer
Esteban Altschul is responsible for managing operations across ACCION International, to ensure that they are efficient, integrate work across multiple departments and allocate resources effectively. As part of this work, Esteban oversees the development and improvement of the systems that deliver ACCION’s products and services. He is also responsible for ACCION’s Human Resources function, and through it drives performance management systems, implements appropriate rewards and recognition practices to align staff with organizational goals, and manages and develops ACCION’s global talent.
Prior to joining ACCION in 2008, Esteban directed human resources for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. Based in Washington, he led a department of 70 professionals worldwide, managing human resource strategy, budget and operations. At the IFC, Esteban played a leadership role in the implementation of many innovative initiatives, including the first long-term incentives plan in a multilateral organization and numerous programs to decentralize business operations. His geographic work experience includes more than 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Esteban also brings a decade of investment operations experience, including expertise in equity funds and in small and medium-size enterprises. At IFC, Esteban served as a Principal Investment Officer, leading and structuring investment projects in Eastern Europe and Latin America, totaling over $1.3 billion in loans and equity investments. Over time, Esteban also managed a portfolio of over 30 companies, totaling around $1.0 billion in investments.
A native of Argentina, Esteban holds a B.S. in International Business Diplomacy and a Master of Science in International Economics, both from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he graduated suma cum laude as the Elsworth Bunker Fellow in Diplomacy. Esteban lives in Cambridge, Mass., with his wife and two daughters.
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Mary Chaffin
General Counsel
Mary is responsible for all of ACCION's legal and corporate governance affairs, including the organization's relationship with outside counsel.
Before joining ACCION in the summer of 2010, Mary worked as a consultant for CGAP, CARE and ACDI/VOCA. Prior to that she served as the General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Risk Manager for Mercy Corps, where she was closely involved with the development of all of the MFIs in Mercy Corps' microfinance portfolio. Mary has an extensive commercial and regulatory banking background, having served as a Managing Director and as Senior Corporate Counsel at US Bank for over 10 years. She began her legal career as a commercial litigator and appellate lawyer at the law firm that is now known as Davis Wright Tremaine.
Mary holds a J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law, where she was a member of Order of the Coif and the Georgia Law Review and graduated magna cum laude. She received her Bachelor degree in Russian studies from Brown University magna cum laude and with honors and also studied Russian history at Columbia University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Susan Clancy
Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director, Finance
Susan Clancy is responsible for managing the overall financial affairs of ACCION including the oversight and management of the functions of the Finance and Accounting Department that include an organization-wide operating budget of $30MM and a team of 15 financial professionals.
Susan brings an extensive, international career in finance to ACCION, having most recently served as CFO of Kendae Technology, a start-up firm focused on online decision support for college-bound teenagers. Prior to Kendae, Susan spent ten years with CNET Networks, a global interactive media company, where she served as CFO of the company’s Channel and International divisions. She has also served as business manager/CFO of ZDNet, as a financial analyst for Norton Company/CertainTeed, and as a manager for both Prudential-Bache Securities and L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin.
Susan holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics from Cornell University.
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Enrique Ferraro
Managing Director, ACCION Investments
Enrique manages ACCION Investment Management Company, LLC (AIMCO) (the company manager for ACCION Investments in Microfinance, SPC (ACCION Investments). Enrique seeks out investment opportunities among microfinance institutions in Asia, Africa and Latin America and negotiates the ACCION's participation in such ventures. Mr. Ferraro sits on the board of several institutions where ACCION Investments holds equity investments, plays an active role in governance and provides strategic and financial advice. Mr. Ferraro is also responsible for monitoring investment performance, reporting to investors, marketing the investment company to potential investors and working to develop new financial products for use by microfinance institutions.
Mr. Ferraro joined ACCION in 1999 as vice president of Capital Markets. He was responsible for the management of ACCION International's 100% owned investment vehicle, the ACCION Gateway Fund and the Latin America Bridge Fund, until early 2003 when he took on the role of managing director of AIMCO.
Before joining ACCION in early 1999, Mr. Ferraro worked in commercial banking at Citibank and investment banking at First National Bank of Chicago in Argentina and the United States. He has also worked as an independent financial consultant, and later served as CFO of Alto Paraná S.A., a large industrial company.
A native of Argentina, Mr. Ferraro holds an M.B.A. from the National University of Buenos Aires and is fluent in English and Spanish.
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Roy Jacobowitz
Managing Director, Resource Development
Roy Jacobowitz joined ACCION in 1994 as senior director of resource development, where he was responsible for corporate and foundation fundraising, and managed prospect research and information systems. In 1998, Mr. Jacobowitz was promoted to vice president of resource development and is currently responsible for raising $3.6 million annually from private sources.
Before joining ACCION, Mr. Jacobowitz served as director of corporate and foundation relations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston for three years, doubling the organization's corporate and foundation income in that time. Previously, he was director of marketing and media relations and director of planning and development for the Breakthrough Foundation in San Francisco, an organization dedicated to aiding high-risk youth. Mr. Jacobowitz holds a B.A. from Yale University.
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Bruce MacDonald
Senior Vice President, Communications
Bruce MacDonald is responsible for managing ACCION’s communications and marketing programs, including branding and awareness, media relations, Web and e-marketing, internal communications, events, publications, and development communications.
Prior to joining ACCION in 2005, Bruce directed corporate communications for several private and publicly-traded U.S. and European technology companies, where his responsibilities included analyst and investor relations, public relations and international marketing. During that time, he spent nearly a dozen years working outside the United States. He has also served as the senior vice president of a leading Boston-based crisis-communications firm, and spent 10 years as a journalist covering U.S. and European business.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, he holds a B.A. in English Literature from Drew University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He lives in Hopkinton, Mass., with his wife and three children.
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Catherine Quense
Chief Administrative Officer
Catherine Quense joined ACCION in 1983 as the assistant to the executive director, working on the formulation and implementation of a national education program designed to raise awareness about Latin American development issues. Ms. Quense served as ACCION's chief financial officer from 1985 until 2008, during which time ACCION’s balance sheet grew from less than $1 million to over $250 million.
Ms. Quense today serves as ACCION's Chief Administrative Officer, managing global office operations and information systems, legal services, and risk and performance management programs. She leads implementation planning for ACCION, and manages organizational preparedness for global expansion. With the departure of María Otero as president and CEO, Ms. Quense assumed that position in an interim capacity until Michael Schlein was named president and CEO in late 2009.
Ms. Quense is involved in strategic organizational planning and development for ACCION International and for ACCION USA. She serves on the board of directors of Centro ACCION Microempresarial in Bogota.
Prior to joining ACCION, she served as director of operations for a domestic social service organization, and worked as special assistant to the director of the national VISTA volunteer program. She has also worked in the purchasing and the credit insurance divisions of Prudential. Ms. Quense has participated as a Partner of the Americas Fellow in International Development, funded by the Kellogg Foundation, and has also served as a board director with various non-profit organizations.
She holds a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in international development from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American studies from Yale University. She lives in Somerville, Mass., with her husband.
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Elisabeth Rhyne
Managing Director, Center for Financial Inclusion
Elisabeth Rhyne is the Managing Director of the Center for Financial Inclusion. As senior vice president of ACCION International since 2000, Ms. Rhyne was responsible for ACCION’s initial entry into Africa and India. She directed the organization’s research efforts to develop new financial products and managed ACCION’s publications and educational activities.
Recognized as a leading thinker and writer in the field of microfinance, Ms. Rhyne has published numerous articles and four books on the topic, including Mainstreaming Microfinance: How Lending to the Poor Began, Grew and Came of Age in Bolivia (Kumarian Press, 2001). She was also co-editor of The New World of Microenterprise Finance (Kumarian, 1994), which provided the introduction to microfinance for many of the field’s current professionals.
Ms. Rhyne’s was director of the Office of Microenterprise Development at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from 1994 to 1998, where she developed and led USAID’s Microenterprise Initiative. While there, she contributed to the founding of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the Boulder Institute of Microfinance. Ms. Rhyne’s experience includes eight years of residence in Africa (Kenya and Mozambique) and independent consulting on microfinance policy and operations for governments, international organizations and microfinance institutions.
Ms. Rhyne holds a master’s and Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and humanities from Stanford University.
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