Global Partnerships Announces Mark Coffey as Chief Investment Officer
April 28, 2010 No Comments
Seattle - Global Partnerships (GP), a Seattle-based nonprofit that expands opportunity for people living in poverty by investing in microfinance programs in Latin America, announced today that Mark Coffey has been named chief investment officer. Coffey is a veteran financial executive who most recently served as president of ShoreBank Pacific, the first commercial bank in the United States with a focus on environmentally sustainable community development.
“We are excited to have Mark join us to help lead Global Partnerships into our next era of growth and impact,” said GP President and CEO Rick Beckett. “His depth of experience in double bottom-line investing, combined with his understanding of microfinance and passion for making a difference in the lives of people living in poverty, make him a tremendous asset to the organization.”
As chief investment officer, Coffey will oversee GP’s microfinance investment funds, a structured fund model that integrates philanthropic and socially motivated capital to loan to select microfinance institutions in Latin America. Coffey will direct both the capitalization of GP’s investment funds and the lending of capital to GP’s microfinance partners.
Coffey brings to GP more than 20 years leadership experience in banking and commercial lending, risk and investment management, investor relations and socially responsible program development. Since 2004, Coffey has served as president of ShoreBank Pacific, also chairing the capital planning team for ShoreBank Pacific’s parent company, ShoreBank Corporation, based in Chicago, and providing leadership support in the company’s international businesses. Prior to working at ShoreBank, Coffey served in executive roles at Homestead Capital, Bank of the Northwest, First Interstate Securities and First Interstate Bank of Texas.
Coffey also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of BRAC Bank, a development bank known for its work with small business lending in Bangladesh and recently completed his service as a member of the Board of Directors of XacBank, a microfinance bank located in Mongolia, and of its parent company, XAC-GE. He has significant humanitarian volunteer and business experience in Latin America.
Coffey said, “Global Partnerships plays a unique and critical role in creating opportunity for people living in poverty in Latin America. It’s an honor to join its leadership team and help GP to build on its success.”
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Founded in 1994, Global Partnerships (GP) is a Seattle-based nonprofit organization that expands opportunity for people living in poverty by investing capital and management expertise in socially motivated microfinance institutions. GP raises capital through a microfinance investment fund strategy. With staff based in Seattle and Managua, as of December 31, 2009, GP invests in 28 microfinance partner institutions in seven Latin American countries that together, serve 812,000 borrowers. Find out more at www.globalpartnerships.org.
Media Contact: Elisa Murray, 206-652-8795, 206-334-9893 (cell)
emurray@globalpartnerships.org
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