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Who
We Are
ACT Partners : ACT Associates : Our Logo
Combining
the right people. Connecting the right resources.
We
share the commitment to make a difference—and the expertise
to make it happen. Having worked in areas ranging from commercial
banking and microfinance institution management to public policy
and grassroots community development, ACT's partners each claim
more than a decade of experience in grassroots business development.
Such far-reaching expertise gives us a unique understanding of each
phase of microfinance consulting. We don't just evaluate problems;
we actively solve them.
Our
work spans projects as diverse in nature as they are in geography.
From financial services management in Honduras to policy development
in Vietnam, ACT's partners have played integral roles in all aspects
of the microfinance industry. Since forming ACT in 2000, we have
continued to provide comprehensive consulting for projects in developing
and transitional countries around the world.
ACT
Partners:
Reuben Summerlin (Currently on long-term assignment for UNCDF as Pacific
Financial Inclusion Advisor)
Mr.
Summerlin
has seventeen years of experience in microfinance and development
project management. Mr. Summerlin has significant experience in the
management of solidarity-based lending programs, with an emphasis on
program sustainability, financial self-sufficiency, product development
and delivery, arrears control and recovery, and staff management and
development. He worked with FINCA International in Kyrgyzstan as
Financial Services Manager and in Haiti as Country Director. His
assignments have included managing project and branch start-ups, funds
procurement, budgeting, human resources management, donor agreement
management, policies and procedures development, project expansion, and
project and institutional evaluation.
Mr.
Summerlin also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan,
where he assisted small farmers to secure funding for agricultural
projects. He speaks English, Spanish, Russian, Kyrgyz, and Haitian
Creole.
Laura Foose
Ms.
Foose
has seventeen years of experience in policy design and advocacy
promoting microfinance development and poverty alleviation in
developing and transitional countries. She has also designed
microfinance projects and conducted evaluations of MFIs. As Secretariat
of the Microenterprise Coalition for five years, Ms. Foose represented
microenterprise practitioner and advocacy organizations to donor
agencies, the US Administration, and members of Congress. For 6
years, Ms. Foose was a working group facilitator for the SEEP Network,
the MF industry association, and worked extensively in the areas of
poverty assessment/outreach. Since 2005 she has been the Coordinator of
the global Social Performance Task Force, a group of over 850 donors,
investors, microfinance practitioners and support organizations
advancing social performance assessment and management. Ms. Foose
is a professor of microfinance at Georgetown University. She is a
co-founder Woman Advancing Microfinance; she is on the Social
Performance Advisory Board of KIVA; and the Taxonomy Committee of “The
Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) project” of The Global
Impact and Investing Network.
Tillman
Bruett (Currently on long-term assignment for as Regional Technical Advisor at UNCDF in Brussels, Belgium)
Mr.
Bruett
is currently on a leave of absence and is working with the UN Capital
Development Fund as the Regional Advisor and Project Manager of the
Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme. He has eighteen years of
finance experience including commercial banking, microfinance and most
recently mobile money. He has worked on financial and operational
design and analysis of MFIs, microenterprise support projects, and
microfinance loan and guarantee funds. He has developed several
evaluation tool and conducted dozens of evaluations of MFIs and support
projects. Working closely with MFIs and funders, he has developed
strategic and operational plans, designed new financial products and
delivery mechanisms, and provided management consulting in the areas of
product development, performance monitoring, financial management,
board development, and internal controls. Mr. Bruett has co-authored
guides and manuals focusing on MFI financial and risk management and
has developed and delivered courses, trainings and workshops on
microfinance. He was an adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University
(SAIS) and taught at Georgetown University.
Mr. Bruett formerly worked for FINCA International where he managed the
Village Bank Capital Fund and led new business development activities.
In the 1990s he worked in Chemical Bank’s International Financial
Institutions Group as a credit analyst and client manager. He speaks
English, Spanish, and German. |
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