Our team

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Patrick Kelley
Director of International Housing Finance
Mr. Kelley serves as Director of International Housing Finance for Habitat for Humanity International’s work in more than 90 countries worldwide. His responsibilities include directing Habitat’s global strategy for sustainable housing finance, developing retail product linkages with banks and other retail financial service providers, and sourcing capital to bring housing solutions to scale. Prior to HFH, Mr. Kelley served extensively in Africa supporting MFIs under USAID’s IGP and Economic Strengthening funding. Other work experience included supporting the growth and advocacy agenda of three national microfinance networks through USAID’s Sector Strengthening funding. Patrick served as Executive Director of URWEGO LLC, the largest MFI in Rwanda, and initiated the startup of Turame in Burundi, and Hekima in the DRC. Both URWEGO and Turame were awarded “Best MFI in Country” by the U.N. Year of Microcredit Campaign. Mr. Kelley also introduced a non-mortgage housing finance product in Rwanda, and has previous housing experience in Latin America. Mr. Kelley is a Certified Public Accountant, holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a master’s in International Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Amy Davis
Associate Director, International Housing Finance
Ms. Davis joined HFHI in early 2008, and is based out of the Washington, D.C., office. She will have an initial emphasis on helping the global team further develop promising practices and rigorous evaluation methodologies for implementing models, and spearhead efforts to develop global expertise in market research and product development. Most recently, Ms. Davis was a consultant with the SEEP Network, Catholic Relief Services, FINCA International, IDEAS and Habitat for Humanity, performing diagnostics, evaluations, training and strategic planning. Additionally, she facilitates workshops in the areas of change management, social performance metrics, client and impact assessment, market research, and new product development. Ms. Davis has 15 years of microfinance experience and more than 20 years in international development, residing overseas for more than 12 years. Prior to consulting, she was the Manager of the Microfinance Unit at Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore and the Senior Technical Adviser for their West Africa Regional Office. She began her microfinance career with FINCA International as Program Manager in Uganda and Haiti. Ms. Davis is a founding member, former President and currently on the Board of Directors of Women Advancing Microfinance (WAM), International.

Jaclyn Flewelling
Senior Specialist, International Housing Finance
Ms. Flewelling recently joined the HFHI Housing Finance team as Senior Specialist for Housing Finance. She will be providing support to HFH’s coordination of the CGAP Working Group on Housing Finance for the Poor. She joins the growing International Programs support department straight from her recent graduation with an International MBA from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. While there, Ms. Flewelling concentrated her studies on International Economic Development and Microfinance. She has also attended training courses including the ILO/Boulder Microfinance Training Program and the SEEP Network GOALS Financial Trends Analysis Course. Her previous work experience includes three years in El Salvador working on community development and fair trade initiatives as a Peace Corps Volunteer, as well as small business development in Brazil and South Carolina. Ms. Flewelling received a B.A. in International Studies from Emory University, and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

Jane Katz
Director, International Affairs and Programs
Ms. Katz is Director of International Affairs and Programs at HFHI’s Washington, D.C., Government Relations and Advocacy Office where she provides program and policy support on a variety of housing finance and related issues and works to develop innovative housing collaborations with organizations engaged in international development activities. She has more than 30 years of public and private sector achievements in housing finance, policy, marketing, and business and program development. Prior to coming to Habitat, she spent 14 years at Fannie Mae, and spent 15 years in the U.S. public sector working in mortgage finance, regulatory oversight, and housing policy at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. Ms. Katz received an M.A. degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland and a B.A. degree in Foreign Affairs from the University of Cincinnati, and has attended the Boulder Institute of Microfinance and the International Housing Finance program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Paul Hamalian
Global Director of Finance
Mr. Hamalian is currently the Global Director of Finance with Habitat for Humanity International and based in Atlanta, Georgia. With Habitat he has worked at the community level in Nicaragua, managed the establishment of the national program in Ecuador and was the Director of Administration and Finance for Habitat’s Latin America and Caribbean program over a period of 12 years. Prior to Habitat he worked in construction management and various Christian ministries. He has a B.S. in Construction Management, M. Div. from Gordon-Conwell Seminary and an MBA from the University of Michigan. He is fluent in Spanish.

Africa and the Middle East

Greg Foster
Director, East Africa and the Middle East
Mr. Foster serves as HFHI’s Regional Director for East Africa and the Middle East. His responsibilities include overseeing all HFH activities in East Africa and the Middle East including the development of housing microfinance products in a number of countries. Prior to working for HFH, Mr. Foster spent seven years as Country Manager for the Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) where he managed a large MFI on behalf of CIDA, which eventually successfully merged with a large commercial bank. Prior to this he worked for MCC in Jordan, Iraq and Bangladesh where he managed a range of projects including a housing MF portfolio. Mr. Foster has a B.A. degree from the University of Otago in New Zealand, and a master’s degree in development from Eastern University Philadelphia.

Stephen Wanjala
Housing Microfinance Specialist
Mr. Wanjala is a Microfinance Specialist with 14 years of hands-on experience in microfinance operations management, training and business development services (BDS). In business development, he has focused his capacity on enterprise development, agribusiness development, business opportunity interventions, establishing business linkages, and SME access to information and management solutions. He has developed exposure and experience to develop, evaluate, monitor, carry out studies and advise on any innovation or intervention in microfinance and housing microfinance, BDS, and in the broader development field. Previously, Mr. Wanjala worked at K-Rep Bank and as an independent microfinance consultant in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania and South Africa for various organizations. He has experience in the development of effective training modules and delivery of the same to all staff categories of rural and microfinance institutions, as well as in undertaking consultancy assignments in the areas of institutional assessment, product development, design and delivery of specialized training programs for operations and management-level staff of institutions engaged in the provision of financial and advisory services to the SME/informal sector. Mr. Wanjala holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (major in Finance and Accounting and minor in Entrepreneurship), currently pursuing a master’s in Development Finance.

Ezekiel Esipisu
Regional Operations Manager
Mr. Esipisu is the Regional Operations Manager for East Africa and Middle East. He is a microfinance/rural finance specialist, well versed in monitoring and evaluation with more than 13 years’ experience conducting assessments and designing and implementing projects. He has a master’s degree in Anthropology and a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology/Economics from Nairobi University. Mr. Esipisu has received further specialized training in microfinance and enterprise development at the Boulder Microfinance Training Program and at the Springfield Centre in the U.K. He has previous experience advising program placement for development organizations including PLAN International, K-Rep and Kenya ECLOF. He is widely experienced in designing monitoring tools used to assess microfinance and enterprise development projects. Mr. Esipisu is familiar with regional countries including Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Lesotho and Rwanda, having worked on enterprise needs assessments and product development and program design in such countries.

Koffi Ahanogbe
Regional Operations Manager, West Central and Island Africa
Mr. Ahanogbe is the Regional Operations Manager for HFH West Central and Island Africa. He focuses on key country priorities as part of the annual plan (program and project charters) and ensures integration of area office interventions to HFH entities to promote balanced growth in stability, sustainability and scale. He also provides leadership in planning, monitoring and evaluation of country activities. Mr. Ahanogbe holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Westfälische Wilhem Universität Münster in Germany and has more than 20 years’ experience working with national and international development organizations including Plan International and Catholic Relief Services. He also has previous experience working for the private sector including commercial banks. He has mainly focused on livelihoods through the implementation of appropriate programs including income-generating activities, farming, animal raising, fishery, improved grain storage and high-performance poverty lending through microfinance. Before joining Habitat, Ahanogbe was the Technical Adviser for the Livelihood Domain (Microfinance and Food Security) at Plan Togo, and was coordinating the programs of the Microfinance Network of Plan International West African Regional Office (WARO).

Asia and the Pacific

Rajan Samuel
Senior Housing Finance Consultant, Asia/Pacific
Mr. Samuel is a Senior Consultant for Housing Finance in the Asia/Pacific regional office in Bangkok, which has operations in more than 24 countries in the region. His responsibilities include identifying alternative legal structures to promote housing for the poor; providing structured technical assistance to partner organizations in the area of risk, fund and portfolio management; and developing alternative financial instruments to tap into capital markets. He is also involved in mentoring and coaching housing finance staff (in-house and partners). Mr. Samuel has been involved in development finance and community development for more than 24 years; has undertaken assignments in 25 countries in Asia, Africa, Central Asia and the Caucasus; and has worked for EFICOR, Opportunity International, World Bank, Khula Finance, DFID, IFAD, CARE, World Vision, Danida and others. He has a master’s degree in Commerce and Business Administration. Mr. Samuel has submitted his Ph.D. thesis on microfinance and transitioning economies with the Azerbaijan Economic University.

Aruna Paul
Regional Program Adviser, South Asia
Mr. Paul joined Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka in 1997 to work as Manager for Training/Affiliate Development. He was instrumental in developing new initiatives, such as Save & Build and Building in Stages. The main emphasis of these approaches is on community development prior to housing so that the target community can become eligible for the Habitat housing loan. This is mainly done through micro-credit saving group formation where the groups are led towards sustainability. The Save & Build methodology has won awards from Habitat International and has also figured as the runner-up at the World Bank Development Marketplace Initiative. In 2004, Mr. Paul became the Regional Program Adviser for the South Asian countries in order to promote the Save & Build methodology and housing microfinance. At present, Mr. Paul also holds the responsibility of Country Representative for Nepal.

Wesley Nguyen
Regional Program Adviser for Housing Microfinance, Mekong Region
Mr. Nguyen is based in Vietnam as the Regional Program Adviser/Microfinance Specialist. He supports housing microfinance initiatives in Mekong Region countries including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. He assists the local Habitat office to develop partnerships with MFIs and also serves as Chief Operations Officer for HFHI in Vietnam to support financial activities. He has seven years’ experience in small- and medium-enterprise development, business services development, microfinance institutional development, banking service support, and financial product and operations development. Prior to coming to HFHI, Mr. Nguyen spent five years in Mongolia working for World Vision Mongolia and Khan Bank as well as a Peace Corps Small Business Volunteer. He received a B.A. from Georgetown University and is currently completing an off-site M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Management of La Trobe University.

G. Milroy Paul
Director, Housing Microfinance, India
Mr. Paul heads Habitat India’s Housing Microfinance operations. His responsibilities include organizational development; planning, designing and development of programs; development of systems and procedures; and program implementation by providing financial and non-financial housing microfinance services to partner MFIs. Prior to joining HFH India, Mr. Paul was with Friends of Women’s World Banking India (FWWB), a leading wholesale microfinance funding agency in India, as consultant/technical assistance and capacity building. He has more than 29 years of hands-on experience as a development banker (agriculture finance, rural banking and SME financing) in one of the leading public sector commercial banks in India, holding senior positions. His core competencies include capacity building and training, financing and funding MFIs, MFI assessment and restructuring, and systems development. Mr. Paul holds a degree in Agricultural Science and post graduate diplomas in Training and Development and Human Resources Management.

Europe and Central Asia

Erik Heesbeen
Housing Finance Program Manager
As Housing Finance Program Manager for the region of Europe and Central Asia, Heesbeen is focusing on addressing housing needs by supporting the development of primary housing finance markets through establishing partnerships with investors and MFIs, developing and implementing new housing finance models and projects, structured finance, debt and equity investments, as well as housing loan product development. Erik has more than 18 years of experience in several finance positions in the private as well as public sector in Europe, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. With Rabobank/Interpolis in the Netherlands he worked for seven years in the field of mortgage business, investments, international re-insurance and pension funds. Through the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs he worked in Bhutan, Southeast Asia, where he was responsible for all financial aspects of the development programs and projects carried out by the Dutch government. He has a master’s degree in Business Economics from the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, and has attended several training courses including the ILO/Boulder Microfinance Program and the International Housing Finance Program from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Christy Stickney
Director, Housing Finance
Ms. Stickney is the LA/C Director of Housing Finance at Habitat for Humanity International, overseeing the design and implementation of innovative projects in shelter finance and construction throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. She is currently leading initiatives to promote action research in housing microfinance, testing housing-related remittance programs, and stimulating investment in housing finance. Actively involved in microfinance since 1993, Ms. Stickney previously worked for Opportunity International, directing technical assistance and financial support to poverty-focused loan and savings programs around the world. Prior to that, she worked for organizations such as the Mennonite Central Committee (Nicaragua), World Relief (Philippines) and the Peace Corps (Philippines). Ms. Stickney has a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University, and a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Leadership Development from Wheaton College in Illinois.

María Sáenz
Manager, Housing Subsidies and Remittances
Ms. Sáenz manages the Remittances and Housing Subsidies projects at Habitat for Humanity International’s Latin American and Caribbean office. She has 15 years of experience in international management and applied research at civil society organizations, mainly in Central America. Ms. Sáenz has skills in strategy development, alliance building, fund raising, negotiation, team building and management.
A native of Guatemala, she has lived and worked in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Perú and the United States. In Costa Rica, she co-founded and was Executive Director of Fundación Acceso, a not-for-profit organization, which seeks to improve the effectiveness of civil society organizations in Central America. She has served as a consultant to the World Bank, UNDP, Carleton University, Universalia Management Group and other development organizations. As a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Leadership Program Fellow, Ms. Sáenz earned a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University and also holds a master’s degree in entomology.

Enrique Montero
Systems and Processes Specialist
Mr. Montero is the Systems/ Processes Specialist at Habitat for Humanity International. He has 10 years of experience with national boards, national directors and multidisciplinary teams as national director, international partner and international program adviser. He was responsible for overseeing the selection and installation of loan portfolio software throughout LA/C, and now he is working on the project “Sustainable Models of Financial Sustainable Services” which seeks to achieve the financial sustainability of Habitat’s loan fund. Mr. Montero has a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership from Eastern University-Saint Davis Pennsylvania and a degree in System Engineering from the Magister University in Costa Rica. He has also completed executive training in management and finance for NGOs from INCAE Business School in Costa Rica.

Mario Moran
Project Manager, Financial Literacy
Mr. Moran has been working for HFHI in housing programs, microfinance and the administration of projects in Latin America and the Caribbean for more than 10 years. Today, as a Project Manager for HFHI in LA/C, he is leading HFHI’s Financial Literacy Project in 12 countries. Mr. Moran has served as a country director and a financial/project director for economic development projects in El Salvador and Honduras with Compassion International and USAID El Salvador, respectively. Mr. Moran speaks English in addition to his native Spanish. He has two degrees, in Industrial and Electrical Engineering, from the Polytechnic and National University in El Salvador, and has attended training courses including the Boulder Microfinance Program (Turin, Italy) and the Leadership Management Program at INCAE.

Juan David Buenosaires
Project Manager, Financial Models
Mr. Buenosaires has been working for HFHI in finance and administration more than eight years. He is currently a Project Manager for HFHI in LA/C, and is responsible for the design and implementation of the separation of Habitat’s loan fund in several countries. He holds a B.S. in Information Technology with an emphasis on Business and Finance from the University of Texas and has a technical degree in Accounting from the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City. Additionally, Mr. Buenosaires has attended training courses in Microfin and Frame Tool.

Belinda Florez
Project Manager, MFI Alliances
Ms. Florez is the Project Manager for MFI (Microfinance Institution) Alliances in LA/C. As such, she is responsible for the design and management of alliances with MFIs that are implementing home improvement loans, such as CREDIVISION (Peru) and FONKOZE (Haiti). A native of Colombia, Ms. Florez has a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. She previously worked with Opportunity International, designing and implementing institutional evaluations for the Latin America partners. Moreover, Ms. Florez worked with World Vision in Colombia for 10 years, where she began as an Administrative Technician and moved into roles of increasing responsibility until she ultimately became the World Vision national Accounting and Finance Manager.

María Teresa Morales
Project Manager, Housing Investment Strategies
Ms. Morales is an experienced Certified Public Accountant, proficient in English. During 11 years of professional experience, she has occupied several managerial positions in KPMG Peat Marwick and Unisys Corporation. In KPMG Peat Marwick she worked as a consultant in the area of Corporate Finance and Business Transformation. In Unisys Corporation she occupied several positions and her last position in the organization was as a Controller where she developed experience in managing the accounting and financial activities of a firm, as well as preparing and presenting reports regarding the firm’s financial operations. She has a Master of Science in Technology Management from the University of Maryland. Ms. Morales is currently the Project Manager for investment strategies within the Housing Finance Team in Habitat for Humanity Latin America and the Caribbean.