Alex Counts
Grameen Foundation USA
“Grameen Innovations In Bangladesh And Around The World”

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Biography:

Alex Counts has been involved in micro-credit for the poor since he graduated from Cornell University in 1988 with a degree in Economics. He was a Fulbright scholar with Grameen in 1988-89 and during his time there he translated the Grameen Training Guide into English and established Grameen's flagship publication, Grameen Dialogue.

After returning from Bangladesh he became the legislative director of RESULTS, an international grassroots citizen's lobbying group working to create the political will to end hunger. In that position he designed and led anti-poverty lobbying campaigns for RESULTS activists in the United States and abroad. RESULTS has been called "pound for pound the most effective lobby in Washington" by Ohio Congressman Tony Hall.

Counts worked in the international training division of Grameen Bank from 1992 to 1994 and for CARE-Bangladesh, CARE's largest mission worldwide, as a regional project manager in 1995 and 1996. In April 1997 he joined Grameen Foundation USA as its first Executive Director. He was later promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer. He now leads a staff of 18 professionals and coordinates the activities of scores of volunteers. Under his stewardship, GF-USA's budget increased 40 times between 1997 and 2001.

Counts has written articles on poverty and micro-credit for the poor that have appeared in the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Miami Herald, International Herald Tribune, and elsewhere. He also authored a book entitled Give Us Credit: How Muhammad Yunus's Micro-Lending Revolution is Empowering Women from Bangladesh to Chicago, which was published by Random House in 1996. Counts speaks fluent Bengali and lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Emily and cat Seymour.