BlueOrchard Finance S.A. Team


Management Team BlueOrchard Finance S.A.

JEAN-PIERRE KLUMPP
BlueOrchard Finance S.A. - Chief Executive Officer

Before joining BlueOrchard in June 2007, Jean-Pierre spent his entire career in banking. Most recently he was a member of the Private Banking Executive Committee of Bank Julius Baer Ltd. in Zurich. Prior to this, he held the following executive positions: CEO of Ehinger & Armand von Ernst AG in Zurich, a private bank of the UBS Group - COO of Ferrier Lullin & Cie SA in Geneva, a private bank of the UBS group - CAO of Merrill Lynch Bank Suisse S.A. in Geneva. Jean-Pierre started his career with Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS), where he held various positions in private banking administration and support, organizational consulting and application development, with postings in Geneva, New York and Basel. Jean-Pierre holds a BA in Business Administration from HEG Lausanne, Switzerland.

GEERT ROOSEN
BlueOrchard Finance S.A. - Chief Financial Officer

Geert Roosen joined BlueOrchard in November 2008. From 1999 to 2008 Geert Roosen held a variety of finance and consulting roles at McKinsey & Company, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Fortis and Siemens. In his last assignment Geert Roosen was head of the strategic financial planning group at Fortis SA/NV responsible for the corporate strategy, capital management and structuring. Geert Roosen holds a Master of Business Administration from the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago (USA), and a Degree in Commercial Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). He is a Belgian national with extensive international work and life experience. He is married and has two children. Dutch is his mother tongue; he masters English and French and has a good knowledge of Italian and German.

ANTOINE MELO
BlueOrchard Finance S.A. - Director of Administration and Finance

Prior to joining BlueOrchard, Antoine was at Universal Corporation, a worldwide leader in trading commodities, where he was Finance and Administration Manager from October 2002 to December 2004. From 2000 to 2002, he worked at Reuters where he was a Project and Operation Support Executive. Prior to that, he worked on various engineering missions around the globe. Antoine is benevolent leader of a microfinance project for the International Federation of Terre des Hommes, an organisation working to promote children's rights & equitable development. Antoine holds an MA in Engineering from the Swiss Federal School of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland and an MBA from the HEC of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

JACK LOWE
BlueOrchard USA Inc. - President

Jack's long entrepreneurial career took him to eight different countries and into a range of businesses, and then into the financial arena. His career began in the Far East, starting as a crude oil salesman covering the Far East area, followed by the opening of McKinsey & Company's first office in the Far East in Tokyo. After coming to Switzerland in 1974, he started several franchising businesses, including McDonald's in Switzerland and Midas in France. In 1986, upon the sale of these businesses, he became a partner of Montgomery Securities and managed their new international investment and brokerage activities, including venture and private equity funds outside the US. In 1997, post the sale of Montgomery to Bank of America, he acquired several medium size businesses he now controls, some of which are outside Europe in emerging markets.  Mr. Lowe joined BlueOrchard in late 2004 with the mission of managing the rapid growth of the company and taking it to a new level of assets under management, as well as international recognition within the institutional investor community. Jack is Swiss and holds an MBA in finance from Stanford University, USA.

ANN MILES
BlueOrchard Finance USA Inc. - Director

Before joining BlueOrchard in 2006, Ann worked at Women's World Banking, New York, a non-profit global network of microfinance institutions (MFIs), where she managed the Financial Products and Services team which monitored the financial performance of the MFIs and helped them access commercial sources of funding. Prior to this, Ann worked at Citigroup, a global financial institution, where she held positions in Trade Finance, the Financial Institutions Group and the Private Bank. Ann is a founder and committee member of the International Associaitons of Microfinance Investors and of the Microfinance Club of New York and a member of the external investment committee of the Calvert Foundation.  Ann holds a BA in Economics and French Literature from Drew University, New Jersey, USA.

DAVID APGAR
BlueOrchard Finance S.A. - Director - Investment Strategy and Risk Management

DavidPrior to joining BlueOrchard, David was a managing director at the Corporate Executive Board, where he launched best practices research programs for corporate controllers and treasurers between 2001 and 2003. He joined the Board in 1998 from McKinsey, where he served insurance, reinsurance, and capital markets clients as a consultant and an engagement manager for three years. Before that, David was responsible for numerous finance company, bank, and insurer M&A assignments as a vice president in Lehman Brothers' Financial Institutions Group, and for building a framework for bank security sales as Senior Policy Advisor to the Comptroller of the Currency. He proposed a debt relief program for Mexico and designed the precursor to interest rate relief Brady bonds as staff economist to Senator Bill Bradley. David holds an AB from Harvard, an MA from Oxford, and a PhD from the Rand Graduate School. He occasionally teaches risk management and international development at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies. David is the author of Risk Intelligence: Learning to Manage What We Don't Know (HBSP, 2006) and Relevance: Hitting Your Goals by Knowing What Matters (Jossey-Bass, April 2008).

LYNN MARTIN
BlueOrchard Finance USA Inc. - Director of Investors Relation

Lynn Martin joined BlueOrchard Finance in the New York office, in March 2008.  Previously, Lynn was Managing Director at Zephyr Management, L.P., an emerging markets private and public equity investment firm, with responsibility for client relations and marketing.  From 1991 to 2004, Lynn was Managing Director at Credit Suisse Asset Management and a predecessor firm, Warburg Pincus Asset Management, where she built the highly successful Post Venture/Distribution Management equity investment business, globally. Earlier, Lynn began her career as an investment banker.  She holds an MBA from Columbia University with concentrations in finance and accounting, and a BA in Mathematics from Smith College. 

MARIA TERESA ZAPPIA
BlueOrchard Finance S.A. - Director of Investment Analysis

Before joining BlueOrchard, Maria Teresa worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for over 8 years, first in Uzbekistan and then in London, graduating from Associate to Principal to Senior Banker. Most recently, she was in the Group for Small Business which is EBRD's microfinance team. Prior to this, she was a project economist with the Asian Development Bank in Manila, a fellow of the Overseas Development Institute in Swaziland and a trainee at the OECD Development Centre in Paris. She holds a Master of Philosophy in Development Studies from the University of Sussex (UK), and a Degree in Economics (BA & MA equivalent) from the University of Florence (Italy).

 

JANE BIENEMAN
BlueOrchard Finance USA Inc. - Director of Financial Advisory Services

Jane worked at Citigroup’s investment bank from 1995 to 2007.  She originated and executed private equity financings as well as advised clients on debt and equity capital markets transactions and mergers and acquisitions.  In addition, Jane was a senior member of the team that launched Citigroup's Public Sector Group which is responsible for the firm's business globally with public sector clients.  Most recently, Jane worked with Women’s World Banking to establish an equity fund for its network members.  Jane began her career as a commercial loan officer for The Fifth Third Bancorp. She holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.



 


BlueOrchard Finance S.A. Analysts

JULIE CHENG
Senior Investment Analyst

JulieBefore joining BlueOrchard in 2004, Julie worked as a consultant researching socially responsible investment in emerging markets and working with MFIs in Kenya and Haiti.Julie started her career as an investment banker in the debt origination group of Smith Barney in New York before joining a small multimedia research firm as marketing analyst. She then worked as an independent consultant providing market analysis to SMEs in Zimbabwe. Subsequently, she worked in Washington DC as a New Initiative Analyst for a USAID programme to promote the competitiveness of SMEs in Africa. Julie holds a BA in economics from Cornell University and an MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, USA.

CAMILO MENDEZ
Senior Investment Analyst / Managing Director of Lima office

CamiloPrior to joining BlueOrchard in 2005, Camilo worked for Moody's rating agency as an Analyst for structured finance transactions in Latin America, where he focused primarily on securitizations related to Mexico's low-income housing sector and servicer quality ratings for financial institutions in Latin America. From 2000 to 2002, Camilo was an Associate in PricewaterhouseCoopers's Project Finance and Privatization Group, which provides financial advisory services to sponsors and lenders of project finance and infrastructure transactions in Latin America. He has also worked for NGOs in the United States and Argentina that provide legal advice and technical support to low-income communities. Camilo holds a BA in History and Latin America Studies from Oberlin College, and an MA in international economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, USA.

BERNHARD EIKENBERG
Senior Investment Analyst

Before joining the field of microfinance, Bernhard was an Associate at JP Morgan in London. He spent more than four years marketing interest rate derivatives and credit and currency products, advising hedge funds on macroeconomic trading strategies and national treasuries on liability management. Subsequently, he held various positions with NGOs, as a consultant to an organisation promoting sustainable tourism development in Central America, and most recently advising an MFI in Morocco on strategies to manage foreign currency and interest rate exposure. Bernhard holds a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics,UK, and an MA in Public Administration from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, USA.

SARAH LESHNER
Senior Investment Analyst
- BlueOrchard Finance USA

Sarah joined BlueOrchard with almost 10 years experience in emerging markets. Her most recent position was Vice President, Latin American Fixed Income Research at Bear Stearns & Co. As an analyst, Sarah covered a variety of sectors throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean, including electricity, oil & gas, real estate, infrastructure, tourism, food and basic materials.  Before joining Bear Stearns, Sarah worked in the Office of the President at Women’s World Banking, a global network of microfinance institutions. She previously held positions with Mercer Management Consulting and Endeavor. Sarah holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance and an MA in International Studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

PAULINE DE SAINT GERAND
Investment Analyst

PaulineBefore joining BlueOrchard, Pauline worked for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Cuba, where she was in charge of managing local economic development programmes. She mainly focused on empowering small and medium enterprises by providing loans and building local capacities in finance and business planning. Prior to this, she spent two years as a Major Donors Fundraiser at UNICEF in Paris and held various positions in the area of economic development as a Programme Manager with NGOs in Latin America and Asia. She started her career in microfinance in Cambodia, working for GRET, an NGO, on a micro-insurance programme. Pauline holds a MSc in Management from Lyon Graduate Business School, France, and an MBA from Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada, with a specialization in non-profit management and leadership.

MATTEO MARINELLI
Investment Analyst

Matteo joined BlueOrchard in March 2006 as an operations associate; he was promoted to Investment Analyst in October 2006. Prior to joining BlueOrchard he worked with several microfinance institutions and consulting firms including Banyan Global in Afghanistan, MEDA in Tanzania, FAO in Thailand and WHO in Serbia. He has received field training from Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and the Boulder Microfinance Training Programme. His masters dissertation addressed the issue of microfinance in post conflict countries in the Balkan region, where he spent several months collecting data in Kosovo, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina. Matteo holds a MSc. in Economics from Bocconi University, Italy, and diplomas from the London School of Economics, University of California at Berkeley and New York University, USA.

CATALINA ROBLEDO BOTERO
Investment Analyst

Catalina Robledo's interest in microfinance started during a short-term consultancy project with OXFAM Private Sector Team addressing the impact of global banks in microfinance. Before joining Blue Orchard in 2006, she spent three months in India working for the Centre for Microfinance Research in Chennai onthe development of educational products by microfinance institutions. Based on this field work, she wrote her masters dissertation on the role of microfinance in education financing in developing countries. Prior to this, she completed several internships with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America in Bogotá and Transparency International in London. Catalina Robledo holds a MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics and a BA in Economics and Political Science from McGill University, Canada.

JULIE HUBERT MOULIN
Investment Analyst

Prior to joining BlueOrchard Finance SA, Julie worked for 3 years with BNP Paribas Switzerland in Commodities Finance. She worked as a Relationship Manager in one of the trade finance team responsible for oil traders in the CIS, and prior to that as a credit analyst in charge of oil and gas counterparts with the credit structured team responsible for commodities clients in the CIS. Julie Hubert-Moulin holds a Masters Degree from the French Institute of Petroleum and the Moscow Gubkin University in Petroleum Economics and Management, and a Masters Degree from Sciences-Po Paris.


VERONIKA GIUSTI KELLER
Investment Analyst

Before joining the BlueOrchard team, Veronika worked for two years at HSBC in the United Kingdom where she was part of a newly created Derivatives Pricing Project Team. Prior to this she worked in Latin America for three years in a rating agency as a Senior Analyst, assigning ratings to financial institutions in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. During this period, she helped to develop the “Microfinance Rating Methodology” and was a key element in the research, elaboration and promotion of the new rating methodology for the microfinance sector. Veronika is an economist and holds an MSc in Economic Development from the University of Glasgow. 

ANNE-LUCIE LAFOURCADE
Investment Analyst

Before joining BlueOrchard, Anne-Lucie worked for the Microfinance Information eXchange (MIX). As Lead Analyst for Africa, she was in charge of analyzing performance information of over 100 MFIs, producing several reports on the status of microfinance in the region. During her time at MIX, Anne-Lucie launched the Dakar office and provided trainings on performance monitoring and benchmarking at the 2006 and 2007 Boulder Microfinance Training Programs in Turin and for several networks in Africa. Prior to this, she gained experience at Transparency International in Berlin, at the World Economic Forum during the annual Davos meetings and at National Geographic Magazine in Washington, DC. Anne-Lucie, a French-American national, holds a BA in Human Sciences from Oxford University, UK and an MA in Latin American Studies from Stanford University, USA.

VINCENT OSWALD 
Investment Analyst  

Prior to joining Blue Orchard, Vincent worked as a relationship manager covering banks in the CIS region in the field of Commodity Trade Finance at BNP Paribas in Geneva. Before that, he worked for several years at Credit Suisse in different departments, mostly for the Russian Private Banking desk both in Geneva and Moscow. Vincent holds a Swiss Banker’s association banking diploma.



GULNAZ ABDRAKHMANOVA
Investment analyst 


Prior to joining BlueOrchard, Gulnaz worked as a loan portfolio manager at the Micro Lending Company “Frontiers”, LLC. She was responsible for gathering and analyzing all documentation required by Frontier’s of their loan clients, conducting on-site due diligence inspections of microfinance organizations and processing loans. She monitored her clients’ activities and reporting. She also contributed to the marketing of Frontier’s services and to its outreach throughout Central Asia. Before this, Gulnaz was office manager of Mercy Corps International, overseeing their small and Medium enterprise lending program. Gulnaz studied economy and finance at the Kyrgyz Russian Slavic University after receiving a diploma from the Philological Faculty of the Kyrgyz State Pedagogical University and a certificate of the Iowa State University School of Agro Banking and Finance.

 


BlueOrchard Finance S.A. Assistants and Associates / Back- and Middle Office

ANTONELLA NOTARI
Head of Corporate Communication

Antonella followed a long and varied career at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), starting as a delegate in the field in Somalia in 1989. She assumed increasing management and operational responsibilities in Iraq, Sri Lanka, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Rwanda. From 2000 to 2007, she was the main spokesperson and head of media relations of the ICRC. She joined BlueOrchard at the beginning of 2008. Antonella holds a licence ès letters of the University of Geneva and a MSc in Media and Communication of the London School of Economics.

DAVID DE MARTIN
Team Leader of Middle Office and Accounting

Before joining BlueOrchard in February 2005, David worked in the accounting department at Lindner Hotels Leukerbad AG and was responsible for the accounting at LeShop SA, Switzerland. In this context he introduced new administrative and accounting procedures and optimised existing ones. In 2004 David spent twelve months in Latin America working on fair trade projects. He collaborated with several Swiss organisations and schools to organise sponsorships for his projects. David obtained his diploma in Hotel Management from Geneva Hotel School, and completed his training with additional certificates in Accounting and Finance.

ISABELLE MAAG 
Middle Office Executive

Isabelle

Isabelle joined BlueOrchard in May 2006. Prior to that, she worked in Geneva for the German foundation Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in the field of international development cooperation. In this context she co-organised several international conferences and seminars, participated in the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights and published a paper on Brazil's Foreign Economic Policy. Isabelle holds an MA in Latin American Studies from Cologne University, Germany as well as an MA in Translation of Spanish economic and law texts with Seville University. 

ROBERT BARCOS
Head of Global IT Services

Robert joined BlueOrchard in June of 2008 and brings with him 17 years experience in business alignment and integration, strategic planning, service management, governance, and operational processes improvement. Prior to joining BlueOrchard, Robert worked as Senior Consultant for Financial Software Solutions (FSG Group) where he established in-house change management practices  and  developed integrated accounting and CRM systems. Before this, Robert was Senior Business Analyst for 3 years where he reengineered financial systems and technical processes as well as authored SLA's for Telecommunication services. He managed a team of 10 people at DHL World-Wide Express IT Services for approximately 4 years. He also served Lloyds Bank, International Private Banking as Technical Support and Training during 3 years. Robert holds a B.Sc. Industrial Design from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, USA.

LURDES MALLON
Office Manager and Bookkeeper, BlueOrchard USA Office

Before joining BlueOrchard in March 2008, Lurdes spent nine years at CW Group, a leading healthcare venture capital firm with over $350 million in assets.  She worked directly for the Chief Financial Officer and managed the day to day operations of the office and all accounting and administration of the funds.  Lurdes speaks English and Spanish.



CARLA CILLONIZ FASSIOLI
Office Manager and Bookkeeper, BlueOrchard Lima Office

In 2004 Carla visited Boston, USA, where she studied English for 6 months and took several marketing courses at the Boston MA Community College. She graduated with honours in Business Administration at the University of Lima in 2005, with a special mention in marketing. She worked at Tim Perú Sac as a commercial executive, and then at Telefónica del Perú S.A. as a commercial analyst. In 2006, she acted as commercial chief at Cidelsa S.A. and later joined BlueOrchard. BlueOrchard is her first professional experience related to the microfinance sector. Carla speaks Spanish, English and Italian.

ALINE CRETTOL
Executive Assistant, Office manager

Aline joined BlueOrchard in May 2008. She brings extensive office management experience to the company and a wealth of direct SME experience from her previous career in companies like Top-Man Software. She also worked in some of the big groups, like Air Liquide and has studied both in the UK and Switzerland.

 

PELAGIE AZANKPO
Accountant

Pelagie joined BlueOrchard in July 2008. Before this she was an accountant in different companies, such as Triall, Stragen Pharma, Louis Dreyfus. She obtained her maturité professionnelle commerciale in 2006 at the Collège et Ecole de Commerce André Chavanne in Geneva. During her studies, she spent one year as an apprentice at the International Committee of the Red Cross in the department of finances. She also took a 3-months course at the Haute Ecole de Gestion of Geneva. Presently, she is following a training as specialist in finance and accounting.

 


BlueOrchard Finance S.A. External Advisors & Consultants

LISA SHERK
BlueOrchard Finance S.A. - Head of Portfolio Analytics

Lisa Prior to working in the field of microfinance, Lisa spent 14 years working in investment management in emerging markets fixed income. Most recently, she was a managing director at the Atlantic Advisors, an independent fund advisory company in New York, and held previous positions at Wasserstein Perella Emerging Markets andthe Asset Management Group pf Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS). Prior to joining BlueOrchard, she conducted various microfinance consulting assignments with Gray Ghost Microfinance LLC, MEDA, and Pro Mujer International. Lisa holds a MA in International Affairs from Columbia University and a BA in Economics and History from McGill University, Canada. 

CEES VAN GESSEL
Advisor to the Management Committee

Before becoming advisor to BlueOrchard Finance S.A., Cees enjoyed a long and outstanding career with ABN AMRO Bank as Group EVP. His main areas of interest have been in Corporate Finance, Treasury, and Relationship Management. After retiring as Global Head of Financial Institutions, Cees became an independant advisor to companies and institutions on Corporate Social Responsibility issues and investments. He now advises BlueOrchard on opportunities provided by institutional investors in the support of microfinance investments. Cees is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He obtained a Doctor's degree in Law from Leiden University.