NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Kaylene Alvarez is founder and CEO of Athena Global Alliance, a consulting firm focusing on risk management, strategic & transaction advisory, project finance and structuring for MFIs, MSME banks and financial intermediaries supporting access to finance in emerging markets.

Lisa Kienzlemanages global operations and strategy for Grameen Foundation’s financial services initiatives. She previously led the foundation’s mobile financial services, which worked with financial institutions and mobile network operators to research, design, and scale new financial services for the mobile channel. Before joining Grameen Foundation, she was director of Branchless Banking for MAP International, a mobile money and branchless banking start-up in Uganda. She was also a consultant for mobile and branchless services in South Asia; a strategy consultant at Marakon Associates; and an investment banker at Lehman Brothers. Lisa received a bachelor’s from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School where she tailored her studies around for-profit social enterprise.