Can Women Rescue the Global Economy?

Mary Ellen Iskenderian is President and CEO of Women’s World Banking (WWB), the world’s largest network of microfinance institutions and banks. Ms. Iskenderian leads the WWB global team, based in New York, in providing hands-on technical services and strategic support to more than 50 top-performing microfinance institutions and banks in 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. WWB’s network members consistently rate among the top three microfinance institutions in their countries and more than 75% of their clients are poor women entrepreneurs.

Ms. Iskenderian, who joined WWB in 2006, has more than 20 years of experience in building global financial systems throughout the developing world. She is a leading voice for women’s leadership and participation in microfinance, and a strong advocate for the role of capital markets in the sector. She has spoken widely on microfinance at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Wharton and at numerous industry and banking forums including the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting; the Council on Foreign Relations and the ResponsAbility Microfinance Conference in Zurich, Switzerland. She was recently profiled in Forbes magazine and the Wall Street Journal and she is frequently quoted in the media, including Newsweek, Time, BBC News, and Voice of America.

Prior to Women’s World Banking, Ms. Iskenderian worked for 17 years in senior management at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, where her numerous leadership positions included Director of Partnership Development, Director of the Global Financial Markets Portfolio and Director of the South Asia Regional Department. Previously, she worked for the investment bank, Lehman Brothers.

Monica Morse serves on the Board of Trustees of Astia, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to foster the full participation of women in entrepreneurship and as accelerators of high-growth companies. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of La Cocina, a kitchen incubator for low-income, primarily women, entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area who are launching or formalizing food businesses.

Until June 2008, Monica was a Managing Director with Black River Asset Management LLC, a global asset management company. She joined Black River after seven years as a founding Managing Director for Cargill Ventures, the venture capital arm of Cargill, which invested in 40 companies across the enterprise software and service, healthcare and cleantech sectors.  She also served on the Board of Directors of Renessen, a plant biotech joint venture between Monsanto and Cargill, Inc.  

Monica has business development and strategy experience in both start-ups and large enterprises, and has been on the ground floor of new product concepts that sought to redefine traditional markets. She joined Cargill Ventures after incubating an online bulk ocean carrier hub in London backed by industry leaders, Cargill, BP and Shell. Prior to that, she was part of the founding team of a logistics company providing fulfillment for online retailers, and was Vice President of Business Development for a digital rights management solutions' provider in Portland, Oregon. Prior to these start-ups, she worked in Cargill’s Strategy and Business Development Group leading global strategy and acquisition initiatives for business units, and she spent a year as a grain merchant.  Monica also worked as a financial analyst at Alex Brown & Sons and worked as a summer investment associate for the IFC/World Bank in the Latin America group.

Monica holds a BA in international relations and an MA in development economics from Stanford University, and an MBA. from Harvard University. She grew up in Asia and Africa.