Elena Nelson

Senior Technical Director, Financial Services

With 30 years of experience in financial institution development, rural and microfinance institution operation, technical assistance program coordination and project management and training, Elena Nelson serves as senior technical director for ACDI/VOCA's financial services practice area. In that capacity, she has developed and managed ACDI/VOCA financial services tools like our Financial Database and the Institutional Viability Assessment, which enable microfinance institutions to objectively monitor financial performance, assess risks and identify appropriate technical assistance needs. She has used them to assess and advise rural and microfinance institutions in Malawi, Egypt, South Africa, Central Asia, Azerbaijan and Indonesia, and to conduct numerous training programs for credit officers and board members of microfinance and rural credit institutions. She is also on the faculty of the Consumer Bankers Association’s Graduate School of Retail Bank Management. She is active in SEEP and the Financial Services Working Group, and co-authored the performance monitoring framework for the MFI manual. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Academy for Economic Studies in Romania.