SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM

Laurie J. Spengler is President and CEO of ShoreBank International Ltd. (SBI). Having founded and managed a business solutions and legal services firm in Central Europe for 15 years, Ms. Spengler brings an entrepreneurial perspective and an understanding of the challenges and opportunities of working in transitional economies.  Ms. Spengler has over 25 years of experience as a strategy and transaction services professional, with significant experience in capital raising, M&A, and private equity transactions.  Over the past decade, she has developed a particular focus on effective capital structures and capital sources for double and triple-bottom line organizations as well as small and growing businesses.  Among these activities, she led the BRAC Africa Loan Fund transaction team and continues to oversee SBI’s growing financial transactions practice.  Ms. Spengler actively represents the company within the broader development finance and impact investment community; she is a frequent presenter and speaker at industry convenings.  Previously, Ms. Spengler worked as an attorney with the New York, Brussels and Prague offices of White & Case.  Ms. Spengler has a JD from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree from Stanford University.  She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.   

Arif Rizvi is Chief Operating Officer for SBI. Prior to joining our team, Mr. Rizvi was Vice President and Business Manager, Shared Services, at ABN AMRO. In that role, he created the vision of a comprehensive program for evaluating Operational and Financial performance for all of ABN's Consumer Operations and Operations control business units. He also developed strategy and tactics for implementation, and convened working teams of US Operations Heads / CFOs to present and implement programs, generated buy-in, and monitored impact and results. Mr. Rizvi is a senior executive experienced in Finance, Operations, and Corporate Governance having worked across Asia, Europe, and United States. 

Jan Piercy is Executive Vice President of SBI, engaged in the capital mobilization practice, business development, and strategic partnerships.  Ms. Piercy also handles senior executive searches for SBI and clients and advises on recruiting, managerial development and the SBI intern and fellowships program.  In 2002, Jan concluded a seven year term representing the United States on the Board of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where she chaired the Board Personnel Committee and the Committee on Development Effectiveness and served on the Board Audit Committee.  She received the US Treasury Medal of Honor in 2001 for her service at the Treasury and World Bank.  Prior to her nomination to the World Bank Board, Ms. Piercy was Deputy Assistant to President Clinton for Presidential Appointments in the White House.  Earlier, she headed public interest management programs at both Cornell and Stanford graduate schools of business and worked for non-profit economic development agencies in the US and South Asia.  Jan graduated with honors from Wellesley College, and completed the Stanford Graduate School Business Executive Program and graduate training at the Princeton Woodrow Wilson School. She serves on the advisory councils of the Acumen Fund and the Global Philanthropy Forum and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a frequent speaker on economic development, inclusive finance and gender issues.  

Lauren Moser Counts is a Vice President at SBI where she leads the housing finance practice and the design and oversight of international housing and small business finance projects in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.  Ms. Counts is a micro/small business and housing finance specialist and brings over 17 years international development finance experience, in which she has designed and managed funds in México and Argentina, as well as microfinance upscaling and commercial bank downscaling in the former Soviet Union, Asia, and Africa.  Ms. Counts has designed and overseen SBI’s housing finance projects including the recently completed mortgage and consumer toolkit development in Vietnam, mortgage capacity building project in Mexico, the feasibility study for a housing microfinance wholesale fund in East Africa, and the piloting of a housing microfinance product in Afghanistan. She also designed and managed the Global Financial Innovations Project GDA with USAID, aimed at leveraging private sector funding towards scaling up slum improvement.  She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Barnard College and holds a Masters from the Center of Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies of Georgetown University.   Ms. Counts is a Chartered Financial Analyst and speaks fluent Russian and is proficient in Spanish.

Jesse Fripp is Vice President for ShoreBank International Ltd (SBI), and leads SBI’s global Microfinance and Alternative Delivery Channel practice areas, as well as SBI’s Middle East/North Africa and South Asia portfolios. Current technical areas of emphasis include major alternative delivery channel initiatives supporting highly-scaled delivery of financial services to low-income populations by banks and other financial institutions through mobile and other branchless channels. Other areas of focus include MFI commercialization & transformation, and small enterprise finance delivery by both banks and MFIs, with an emphasis on crisis and conflict-affected areas.  Jesse has over 16 years of international experience in the Balkans, the Middle East, and South Asia. Prior to joining SBI in 2005, he held senior field and home office positions with a major corporate consulting firm and a leading development NGO, beginning his international career as a Peace Corps Volunteer. In addition to managing major practice and business lines in broader economic development implementation and experience as both a Chief of Party and General Manager, Jesse has played key leadership roles for development finance Greenfields and transformations in eight emerging market countries, including launch of non‐bank financial services companies, regulated banks, and traditional MFIs.  Jesse holds a Master’s in Public Management with a concentration in International Economic Development from the University of Maryland at College Park, and a certificate in Finance from the Edinburgh Business School. He is Vice Chair of the Board of Oikocredit USA, and has taught as Adjunct Faculty at the George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, DC.