Who We Are
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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

Mr. Summerlin has fifteen 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 fifteen years of experience in policy design and advocacy promoting private sector development and poverty alleviation in developing and transitional countries. Ms. Foose has experience formulating microfinance policies for the international donor community. 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. She currently facilitates the international Social Performance Task Force, a group of over 350 donors, practitioners, social investors, and raters advancing social performance assessment and management.

Ms. Foose is a professor of microfinance at Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University. She is a co-founder Woman Advancing Microfinance, and is on the board of the Alliance of Students Against Poverty (ASAP), a public awareness campaign aimed to address extreme poverty by mobilizing the idealism and talents of students.

Tillman Bruett (Currently on long-term assignment for UNCDF as Pacific Financial Inclusion Advisor)

Mr. Bruett has sixteen years of finance experience including commercial banking and microfinance. He has extensive experience in 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 project. Working closely with MFIs and support projects, 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 financial standards and has developed and delivered courses, trainings and workshops on microfinance. He is currently serving as the Pacific Financial Inclusion Advisor for UNCDF in Suva, Fiji.

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.