Red Accion is led by a Board of Directors whose primary responsibility is to support and provide oversight of its activities. In addition, the Board represents Red Accion members in accordance with the terms specified in the Affiliation Agreement, evaluates institutions that are candidates for membership and is responsible for the processing outgoing members.
The Board of Directors is composed of five members: the president of Accion and four directors of Network member institutions (two from regulated institutions and two from non-regulated institutions). The Board is elected each year during the Red Accion Annual Meeting of Directors.
The current Board of Directors members are: Michael Schlein, Alejandro Puente, Victor Tellería, Percy Urteaga and Carlos Heisecke.
Michael Schlein
President and CEO, Acción
Michael Schlein brings more than 25 years of extensive international banking, management and public service experience to his role as President and CEO of Accion. As President of Citigroup’s International Franchise Management, Mr. Schlein managed the bank’s network of 100 Chief Country Officers, who were responsible for performance, regulatory relations, governance and reputational risk in their respective countries. In previous roles, he oversaw Citi’s Global Corporate Affairs and Human Resources divisions. A member of Citigroup’s Operating Committee, he also served as Executive Director of Citi’s Business Practices Committee, and as a Director of Citibank, N.A., Poland’s Bank Handlowy and Citibank Korea, Inc.
Prior to his senior posts at Citi, Mr. Schlein was appointed Chief of Staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He earlier served as Chief of Staff to the NYC Deputy Mayor for Finance and Economic Development. He began his career in public finance at Smith Barney.
Mr. Schlein has been involved with microfinance for many years, serving on the Board and Executive Committee of Accion before becoming CEO and President, and playing a leadership role at the Citi Foundation, which has a long history of funding microfinance initiatives. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. Schlein holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1984. He resides with his family in Brooklyn, New York.
Alejandro Puente
External Relations Officer, Gentera
Alejandro Puente is Chief Relationship Officer of Gentera, a listed company on the Mexican Stock Exchange. Gentera is a holding company with seven companies focused on offering financial inclusion services. Three of them operate financial services at the bottom of the pyramid in Guatemala (Compartamos S.A.), Peru (Compartamos Financiera) and Mexico (Compartamos Banco). The bank is one of the largest institutions of the type in Latin America. The other companies are focused on insurance for low-income segments (Aterna), a banking correspondent administrator (Yastás), a remittances company (Intermex) and a foundation (Fundación Gentera). Prior to joining Gentera, Mr. Puente worked at Soluciones Cappta S.C as Co-CEO and at Fundación Teletón as CEO for over 10 years.
He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from Universidad Anáhuac and studied a specialized program in Top Management at Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresa (IPADE Business School). Additionally, he has undertaken different programs on financial analysis, politics and history in Mexico; marketing and advertising seminars in New York; and a Corporate Diplomacy executive program at Wharton.
Victor Tellería
General Manager, Financiera FAMA
Born in Nicaragua on November 20th, 1961. He is a Bachelor in Business Administration from Florida International University and Master in Business Administration Fromm the same institution. Mr. Tellería has additional studies in: Accounting and Finance from INCAE, Accion Program in Strategic Leadership for Microfinance from Harvard Business School and a certificate in Banking Management from Thomas More University.
He has built a professional career with over 23 years of experience in the financial industry, holding managerial positions such as Marketing Manager at Banco de la Producción. He was one of the founders of Fundación FAMA, and he was the executive director of the institution from 1992 to 2006. He has been General Manager of Financiera FAMA from 2007 to present day. He has also been Chairman of the Board at the private credit bureau SINRIESGOS since 2004.
Percy Urteaga
General Manager, Mibanco Banco de la Microempresa
Civil Engineer from Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, MBA from IESE Universidad de Navarra.
In 1998 he joined Banco de Crédito as Planning and Business Development Manager. He was later promoted to CFO of Banco de Crédito de Bolivia, a position that he held from 2003 to 2008. During this time he was also Chairman of the Board at Credifondo and Credibolsa in Bolivia. He was Commercial Manager of Consumer Banking at Banco de Crédito de Perú from 2008 to 2011, and Planning and Commercial Development Manager at the Marketing Department from 2011 to 2012.
Mr. Urteaga has been Vicepresident of the Board of Financiera Edyficar since 2012, and Vicepresident of the Board of the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Peru (Asomif). He has participated as speaker in national and international financial inclusion events.
Carlos Heisecke
President, Financiera El Comercio
Mr. Carlos Alberto Heisecke Rivarola has been the president of Financiera El Comercio for 29 years, and he was a founder of the institution in 1976. He previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 16 years until he shifted his career towards financial services. Mr. Heisecke speaks Spanish, English, Portuguese and Guarani. He has businesses in other industries like hospitality, publishing and agriculture. He is a member of the board of BANCARD S.A., the most important provider of ATMs and credit and debit card processing of Paraguay. He has been president of the Rotary Club – Asunción. He is a member of the financial committee of the Red Cross in Paraguay, and of the board of Fundacion Solidaridad, an NGO created in 1969 to support people with disabilities to achieve social inclusion. He is part of the Global Compact and the Paraguayan Association of Financial Institutions (ADEFI), where he has been president on two occasions.
He participated in the HBS – Accion Program on Strategic Leadership in Inclusive Finance at Harvard University in Boston. He has participated in the Foromic organized by the IDB every year since 2000. He is a member of the Private Sector Consulting Group at the IDB. He has taken part in the Global Agents Meeting organized annually by Western Union, whose representative in Paraguay has been Financiera El Comercio since 2004. He is currently member of the Board of Directors of Red Accion.