Larry Reed
Opportunity International Network
“Financing Microfinance, Social Investment And Specialized Investment Funds”

Biography:

Larry Reed is the Chief Executive Officer of the Opportunity International Network, a global coalition of 60 microfinance organizations in over 30 countries. Opportunity's Partner Organizations include microfinance programs in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, and support offices in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

Beginning his service with Opportunity-US in 1984, Larry has held a variety of senior positions within the organization. In 1991, he founded Opportunity's Africa Regional Office in Zimbabwe, and served as its Africa Regional Director until 1996. Upon returning to the US, he became Vice President of Opportunity-US for global operations. Opportunity internationalized its structure in 1998, and Larry was asked to lead the new Opportunity International Network.

Larry is the past chair of the Small Education Enterprise Promotion (SEEP) Network, a research and advocacy group of microfinance industry practitioners. Also, he was a plenary speaker at the 1999 Microcredit Summit Meeting of Councils in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and a featured speaker on microfinance at the 1999 World Parliament of Religions Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. He has also published several articles on microfinance and served as a contributor to "The New World of Microfinance" (Rhyne, Otero, et. Al., 1996), "Serving with the Poor in Africa" (Yamamori, Myers, Bediako and Reed) and "Globalization and the Kingdom of God" (Goudzwaard, 2001).

Larry is a graduate of Wheaton College and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Larry and his wife, Sandy, live in Oak Park, Illinois and have three children, two in college and one in high school.