The fourth session in the USAID Microenterprise Development office's mini-series on the impact of the current global financial crisis on microfinance institutions and their clients, "Savings and the Crisis," took place at the offices of QED Group LLC in Washington D.C on March 10, 2009 and simultaneously as a webinar in order to enable remote participation. Jamie Zimmerman (New America Foundation) moderated a discussion with Mary-Ellen Iskenderian (Women's World Banking), John Ikeda (Grameen Foundation) and Jeff Ashe (Oxfam America) on how savings have been affected by the current crisis.

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Jamie M. Zimmerman is Deputy Director of the New America Foundation’s Global Assets Project. Launched in 2006, the project aims to inform and stimulate global asset-building innovations among microfinance, financial education, social policy, and commercial financial services. Ms. Zimmerman develops and manages the project’s efforts to advance savings and asset-building policies and initiatives around the world. Ms. Zimmerman was previously Associate Director of Globalization Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, where she managed research and outreach efforts for projects aimed at building awareness of the relationship between international trade, human rights, and corporate social responsibility. She has also worked as an international trade consultant in Brazil, and with nonprofit micro-enterprise development groups in Peru. She holds a master’s degree in international political economy and international development from the University of Kentucky.

Mary Ellen Iskenderian is President and CEO of Women’s World Banking (WWB), the world’s largest network of microfinance institutions and banks. She leads the WWB global team in providing hands-on technical services and strategic support to more than 50 top-performing MFIs and banks in 30 countries. Having joined WWB in 2006, she has more than 20 years of experience in building global financial systems and has become a leading voice for women’s leadership and participation in microfinance and a strong advocate for the role of capital markets in the sector. Prior to WWB, Ms. Iskenderian worked for 17 years in senior management at the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, where her numerous leadership positions included Director of Partnership Development and Director of the Global Financial Markets Portfolio. She holds an MBA from the Yale School of Organization and Management and a Bachelor of Science in International Economics from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

John Ikeda is Program Officer for Sub-Saharan Africa with Grameen Foundation. Prior to joining Grameen, Ikeda managed microfinance research programs and led new business development for World Council of Credit Unions, where he worked with microfinance institutions in over 12 countries to expand access to small-scale savings and credit. He also worked for two years in Japan with the Ministry of Culture and Education. Ikeda holds a BA in journalism from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as a double MBA in finance and international business from University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a Rath Foundation Distinguished Fellow.