Key Staff Biographies 

Peggy Sousa
Board Member
Peggy Sousa is currently Vice President & General Manager at American Express Global Merchant Services with responsibility for managing the airline industry portfolio in the Global Client Group. Over the past 20 years, Peggy has held various senior leadership positions across the company's travel and financial services lines of business including Regional Vice President, Business Development for American Express' U.S. Commercial Card business. In this capacity, she led a sales team that worked with mid to large size companies to develop expense management solutions utilizing American Express' Corporate Card and Purchasing Card programs.

Prior to this role, Peggy was based in London and held the position in American Express Business Travel as Vice President Supplier Relations for the EMEA region; she was responsible for developing supplier strategy and programs, and marketing these programs to American Express' business and consumer travel customers.

Peggy is a two time recipient of the American Express Quality Leadership Award. She is a graduate of New York University and resides in New York City. In her time off, Peggy enjoys home renovation and design projects, traveling, fitness activities, theater and reading.

Cesar Medina
Board Member
Cesar Medina is currently Senior Vice President and Chief Credit Officer for Banco Popular North America. Mr. Medina is responsible for the Credit Risk Management function, including credit underwriting, documentation, consumer and residential mortgage loans, Popular Leasing USA, the workout group, and credit management information systems.

Mr. Medina joined Banco Popular de Puerto Rico in 1984, moving up from entry-level positions and joining the management training program. Mr. Medina worked in equipment leasing and has taken on progressively senior positions in the credit arena since 1988, working with overseas credit supervision, credit administration, credit review and audit.

Mr. Medina studied physics at Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana and did graduate studies in business and management at Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico. He currently resides in Libertyville, Illinois.

Douglas Urquhart
Board Member

Douglas Urquhart is a partner in the Corporate Department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where he specializes in debt financings and restructurings. He represents lenders, borrowers and equity sponsors on a wide variety of financing transactions, including domestic and cross-border acquisition and working capital facilities, second lien and subordinated loans, and private note offerings. Representative clients include General Electic Capital Corporation, Citigroup, Prudential Insurance and Bear, Stearns.

Born in Venezuela and educated in the United Kingdom, Mr. Urquhart began his career in London before moving to the United States permanently in 1992. Mr. Urquhart spent four years with a New York-based international law firm before joining Weil, Gotshal & Manges in 1996. He became a partner in January 2000.

Mr. Urquhart graduated from the University of Leicester, England (Bachelor of Law with honors) in 1985 and the College of Law, England, (LSF) in 1986. He was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1989, and to the New York Bar in 1990. He is married with two sons and lives in New York City.

Catherine Quense
Board Member

Catherine Quense joined ACCION International in 1983 as the assistant to the executive director. In her first role with ACCION International, Ms. Quense designed a national education program to raise awareness about Latin American development issues. From 1985 until 2008, Ms. Quense served as ACCION International chief financial officer, during which time ACCION's balance sheet grew from less than $1 million to over $250 million.

Today, Ms. Quense serves as ACCION International's Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Deputy, managing human resources, global office operations and information systems, legal services, and risk and performance management programs. She leads implementation planning for ACCION International, and manages organizational planning and development for both ACCION International and ACCION USA. Additionally, she serves on the board of directors of ACCION Chicago and of Centro ACCION Microempresarial in Bogota.

Prior to joining ACCION International, Ms. Quense held numerous leadership positions with a range of socially focused organizations. She served as director of operations for a domestic social service organization, and worked as a special assistant to the director of the national VISTA volunteer program. She has also worked in the purchasing and the credit insurance divisions of PrudentiaL. Ms. Quense has participated as a Partner of the Americas Fellow in International Development, funded by the Kellogg Foundation.

Ms. Quense holds a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in International Development from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American studies from Yale University. She lives in Somervile, Mass., with her husband.

Prior to assuming the responsibility of Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Quintero joined ACCION USA as the Chief Financial Officer following his work as Senior Vice President of Business Investments at the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ). During his time at UMEZ, Mr. Quintero successfully closed over $25 million in direct investments and $57 million in triple-tax exempt financings for community development projects that include the largest "big-box" retail development in Manhattan, the largest microloan fund in New York State history, and other development firsts. Mr. Quintero, a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA), earned a BA in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of Washington and completed his MBA from Columbia Business School.

Elenor Denker
Vice President of Resource Planning and Administration

Prior to joining ACCION USA, Ms. Denker served as the Vice President of Human Resources and Customer Service at Harman Consumer Group where she was responsible for senior level recruitment and personnel management. Ms. Denker brings years of government and non-profit experience from her work as the Chief of Staff of the Queens Borough President's Office and the Executive Director of Woodside on the Move, Inc. Ms. Denker holds a BA from Tufts University in Psychology and Education, an MA from Bank Street College in Guidance and Counseling, and a PhD from CUNY in Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics.

J. Neil Boss
Director of Risk Management

As Director of Risk Management, Neil is responsible for the examination of products, credit policies, and loan repayment to ensure the security of the ACCION USA loan portfolio while working across the Leadership Team to develop products that drive revenue. He works to further the development of the ACCON USA credit scoring model, general loan product guidelines, and cultivates loan products for the lending department. Prior to his current position as the Director of Risk Management, Neil served as Senior Underwriter for ACCION USA where he has underwritten over 472 microloans for a total of $4.5 million since October 2008. Neil joined ACCION USA four years ago as a loan consultant and was promoted to business analyst after demonstrating expertise in financial comprehension and loan analysis.

Neil most recently graduated from Milano - The New School in New York City with a Masters degree in Non-Profit Management. He spent two years in Honduras serving with the US Peace Corps as a Water and Sanitation Technician. While he was in Honduras, he supervised the data collection and did the ensuing designs for eight water systems in villages with no access to clean water. Neil graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Lily Leavitt
Director of Information Systems
As Director of Information Systems, Ms. Leavitt is responsible for managing ACCION USA's loan servicing and lending platforms, as well as the organization's technology needs. Prior to joining ACCION USA in 2004, Ms. Leavitt served as a financial services professional at the MassMutual Financial Group. Previously she worked as an Account Executive and Project Manager at BTS USA, Inc., a management consulting and training organization. Ms. Leavitt earned her MBA from Columbia Business School and holds a bachelor's degree in Finance from the Wharton School of Business.

 Ana Hammock
Director of Lending
Ms. Hammock was hired in August 2006 to launch ACCION financial education program, Your Money and You. The program has succeeded in providing essential financial resources to low to moderate income participants through two primary delivery channels: workshops and one-to-one counseling sessions. Prior to joining AUSA, Ana worked in community development for Catholic Relief Services in Sri Lanka. In addition to her work overseas, Ana worked for three years at Centro Presente in Boston where she taught classes on citizenship, computers and immigration policies and procedures to Central American immigrants. Ms. Hammock received her Masters of Arts and Diplomacy degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Libardo Clavijo
Controller
As Controller for ACCION USA, Libardo is responsible for overseeing and continually improving ACCION USA's accounting and financial operations system. Prior to his position with ACCION USA, Libardo worked as the Financial Controller for Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc. Previously, he served as Senior Accountant at Esperanza, Inc. and Branch Manager at a local micro enterprise in Philadelphia, PA. Additionally, Libardo served at Forval S.A, a Colombian national manufacturing firm, where he managed the collections department. Libardo brings 16 years of experience in non-profit management, finance, office handling, sales and customer service in a bi-lingual context to ACCION USA. Libardo graduated from ICESI University in Cali, Colombia, with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. He received his MBA from Eastern University in Philadelphia, PA, where he resided for 10 years after moving from his native Colombia.

 Jennifer Spaziano
Vice President, Business Development and Government Affairs
As Vice President of Business Development, Ms. Spaziano helps to drive ACCION USA forward, implementing the organization's strategic goals through unique partnership development and program implementation.  She advises the Executive Team on key projects such as Kiva, Green, and territory expansion.  In her seven year tenure with ACCION, Ms. Spaziano has assumed a variety of responsibilities including marketing strategy management, financial education design, fundraising, community relations and government affairs.   Previous to ACCION, Ms. Spaziano served as an Americorps volunteer in Los Angeles, where she directed an educational program and worked with local organizations on immigrant rights and cross-border issues.  She holds a BA in Philosophy and Psychology with high honors from Providence College.

 Erika Eurkus
Senior Director, Capital & Brand Development
Prior to her current position, Erika served as New England Program Director for ACCION USA, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the area's largest microlending program, a position she came to after assisting with the first ever merger in the domestic microfinance field, the union of ACCION USA and Working Capital. 

Erika served for two years on the advisory board of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship at the Pioneer Institute in Boston.  She currently sits on the advisory council for Onein3, an advisory of young professionals serving the Mayor of Boston.  She holds a B.A. from Northwestern University.  In 2007 Erika was named to the Boston Business Journal's "40 Under 40," which lists the best and brightest young business leaders and innovators in Greater Boston.