Douglas Leavens

Technical Managing Director, Financial Services & Integrated Rural Development Portfolio

With experience working in both not-for-profit microfinance and commercial financial systems around the world, Douglas Leavens currently serves as a technical managing director in the Financial Services & Integrated Rural Development portfolio. He supervises and serves as a board member for our locally registered microfinance institution in Iraq and provides technical direction for an access to finance project targeting agricultural cooperatives in the West Bank. He also provides technical input on a range of other rural and agricultural financing initiatives across sub-Saharan Africa, in the Middle-East, Central Asia and Latin America. Mr. Leavens’ first financial career was as an international banker with the Chase Manhattan Bank, where he served as a vice president for credit and relationship management for 21 years. Based in Europe, the Ivory Coast and New York, his lending practice encompassed corporate, agricultural, middle market, government and correspondent banking. Since moving into the international financial sector development field, Mr. Leavens led USAID’s Africa Venture Capital Project, starting up three venture capital funds that demonstrated there is a role for private risk capital in financing start-up businesses in developing countries. Subsequently, he was chief financial officer and senior technical advisor for PRIDE AFRICA, a Kenyan microfinance NGO, and was responsible for financial and administrative functions in 5 East Africa countries, providing loans to over 60,000 clients with a portfolio exceeding $10 million. He has also served as a chief of party in Kenya, as research director on a global value chain project and as team leader assessing a major bank restructuring project in Bangladesh. He developed a microfinance start-up program in Uganda and has conducted workshops, studies and training activities in microfinance and MSME development. Before joining ACDI/VOCA, he was a director in Chemonics International’s Africa region, where he managed projects in Mali and Nigeria, targeting increased access to financing for micro, rural and agricultural enterprises. Mr. Leavens earned his B.A. in economics from Hobart College, in New York, and his M.A. in international relations from the University of Southern California. He also holds a professional education certificate in organization development from Georgetown University. He is fluent in French.