SPBD Board of Trustees & Advisory Board
SPBD is governed by a Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees are responsible for the management of the Foundation's assets and to ensure that the aims of the organization are realized.
Since April 2004, SPBD is honored to receive advice and guidance from the 7-member Samoan Advisory Board. Its roles are to guide, advise and promote SPBD's mission of fighting poverty. It is currently chaired by Nigel Burr, a respected retired banker.
Greg Casagrande - Chairman Board of Trustees
Greg is the Founder of South Pacific Business Development Microfinance Network, the leading microfinance institution in the Pacific Islands region. He is also founder of MicroDreams (www.microdreams.org), a microfinance acceleration fund working with emerging microfinance institutions around the world.
Greg also serves as a director for the International Association of Microfinance Investors (www.iamfi.com), Microfinance Pasifika Network (www.microfinance-pasifika.org) and Planet Finance (www.planetfinance.org)and as a fund advisor to Plebys - a for-profit "Base of the Pyramid" investment fund. He also served on the United Nation's Board of Patrons for its International Year of Microcredit - 2005.
In addition to his microfinance activities, Greg promotes hi-tech entrepreneurship. He is a founding director of the Ice Angels, Australasia's largest angel investor group and serves as Chairman of three New Zealand software firms: Biomatters Ltd, Calcium Solutions Ltd and English-To-Go Ltd.
Prior to these ventures, Greg recorded significant achievement with Ford Motor Company, Mazda Motor Company and Coopers and Lybrand in product development, manufacturing, marketing and financial management positions and led teams in the U.S., Japan and Europe.
Greg has an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, a MS from NYU Stern, a BA from Colgate University and is a CPA.
Jim Young - Trustee
Jim has been a board member of SPBD since 2002. He is a graduate of Princeton University with an Economics degree and received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. He also completed the CFA program. Jim works as an investment analyst at West Family Investments, a private family office, in Evanston IL. Before his current position, he worked at Goldman Sachs for 19 years - Equity Research for 3 years in New York City and Institutional Equities Sales for 16 years in Chicago. He lives in Evanston, IL with his wife, Karen, and children, Stephanie, Henry and Katie. Karen is an active and enthusiastic supporter of SPBD. Jim and his family are committed to microfinance and its basic premise of helping people help themselves.
Minh-Huy Lai - Trustee
Minh has 12 years experience in the areas of microfinance, investment banking and trade finance. Before serving on the Board of Trustees Minh was SPBD's General Manager from 2003 - 2005. Currently, Minh is the Chief Operating Officer of PlaNet Finance, a Paris-based microfinance platform and network operating in over 60 countries.
Minh received a MBA in International Management from The Thunderbird Global School of Management and attended the Harvard Program on Strategic Leadership for Microfinance in April 2007. Minh speaks English, French and Vietnamese fluently.
Nigel Burr - Trustee
A New Zealander by birth, Nigel has lived for more than 30 years in Samoa and during that time has held senior positions in Bank of Western Samoa (now ANZ Bank Samoa) and was the Head of the National Provident Fund. Although now semi retired, he remains active in local business circles where he is well respected. For SPBD, Nigel is both a Trustee on the Board of Trustees and is the Chairman of the Board of Advisors.
SPBD Staff
The SPBD team is entirely based in Samoa. SPBD President Casagrande is a volunteer.
The field operations are essentially carried out by our team of centre managers. Centre Managers (CMs) who form, develop and train the centers in the different villages of Samoa.
Our CMs are responsible for recruiting, training and motivating new members. They work with our members to help ensure that their businesses grow and prosper and that their families benefit from the increased income. Also very importantly, they work to make sure that our loan portfolio remains healthy.
Our CMs are supported by our Finance and Administration Team which is responsible for controlling and protecting SPBD's assets, for planning and reporting our financial performance and for handling all of the numerous administrative tasks that arise.
Greg Casagrande - President
(See Greg's Board of Trustees' listing above)
Luapene Lefau - Finance and Administration Manager
Luapene joined the SPBD team in February 2002 as SPBD Finance Manager. Luapene has 16 years of progressive experience in financial management. She is responsible for all financial and administrative planning, control and reporting functions. Luapene also often represents SPBD in local forums.Luapene has a diploma in Accounting from the National University of Samoa and is a Chartered Public Accountant. Prior to SPBD, Luapene worked for the South Pacific Regional Environmental Program (SPREP) where she was the Accountant. Prior to SPREP, Luapene held several accounting positions with increasing levels of responsibility at The Samoan Copra and Cocoa Board and later the Electric Power Corporation.
