Gautam Ivatury joined CGAP in 2003. He manages CGAP’s Technology Program. Before joining CGAP, Ivatury was vice president of Finance and Administration at SKS Microfinance in India, an investment analyst at International Finance Corporation, and a co-founder of a startup education technology venture. Ivatury also worked as an investment banker at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (now Credit Suisse First Boston). He has a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University. He speaks English and is proficient in French and Hindi.
Kabir Kumar manages how the Technology Program conducts research and is responsible for a number of projects in the Program’s m-banking portfolio. He was an IT and telecom marketing and strategy consultant and has worked at the World Bank on gender equality. Originally from Mumbai, India, he has a master’s from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Mark Pickens is a Microfinance Analyst with CGAP’s Technology Program. Prior to joining CGAP he consulted to Amret Microfinance, Bank of Africa, USAID, UNCDF and worked with Development Alternatives, Inc. , a consulting firm specializing in economic development solutions in emerging markets. Pickens has helped launch four institutions that successfully mix for-profit sensibility with social mission, including CGAP’s technology program, New York City’s largest business incubator for immigrant entrepreneurs, an award-winning internet news portal, and a public health non-profit in Madagascar. He has a Master’s degree in microfinance from Columbia University.
Lauren Reese is an Associate Microfinance Analyst with the Technology Program. Lauren coordinates the program’s application process and is the team lead on financial education for technology channels. Before joining CGAP, Reese worked in microenterprise development at CHF, a development consultancy, and at TPC, a microfinance institution in Cambodia. Reese holds a Master’s degree in International Development and Economics from Johns Hopkins University, SAIS.
Jim Rosenberg is the Communications Officer for the CGAP Technology Program and manages this site. In previous incarnations Jim has been a Web editor at the World Bank, a satellite radio producer, and a business reporter at WAMU-FM, the National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate in Washington DC. As a local reporter he contributed frequently to Marketplace, the public radio business program of record in the United States. He holds a master’s in Journalism from Columbia University.
Hannah Siedek joined CGAP in 2003, helping private and public microfinance organizations use their resources more effectively as part of the Aid Effectiveness team, based in Paris. In 2006 she joined CGAP’s Technology Program, where she explores technology-enabled delivery channels for financial services and how these channels can increase outreach to more remote and poor clients in a profitable way. Based in Washington DC, Hannah is the team’s lead researcher on banking agents, using third parties such as retail shops to work on behalf of banks. Work includes understanding the business model, agent management, and customer adoption challenges. Before CGAP, she interned with NM Rothschild & Sons in London and the Momentum in Madrid. She has a Master’s degree from ESCP-EAP, Paris, and has studied in England, Spain, and France.
