Board

Dominique Lesaffre- President since September 2011

Dominique Lesaffre is president of INAISE. He is currently working for Solidarité Internationale pour le Développement et l'Investissement (SIDI). Read his statement here.

To contact the INAISE president, please send an email to president@inaise.org

Andreas Neukirch (GLS Gemeinschaftsbank, Germany)

Since 2002 Andreas Neukirch is member of the board of the GLS Bank with responsibilities in the following domains: personnel development, bank-wide control, IT-Orga and audit. He is also responsible for affiliated companies within the GLS group and therefore member of the executive board of the Beteiligungs AG and Energie AG.

He is engaged in the international collaboration of ethic-ecological oriented banks as a member of INAISE board and member of the supervisory board of the ISB (Institute for Social Banking). Andreas Neukirch is honorary member of the board of a big German charity-alliance (Caritas) and a home care establishment.

Peter Quarmby (Community Sector Banking, Australia)

Peter is Executive Director of Community Sector Banking and CEO of Community Sector Innovations, the Banks business development and innovation unit. Peter has worked in the Community Sector for over 25 years. He has been CEO of two successful community-based employment services providers (Enterprise and Training Company of Coffs Harbour and Access Community Group in Wollongong). Peter developed the concept of Community Sector Banking and was instrumental in the foundation of the bank in 2002. Peter also developed and was a founding director of and Australia’s first Regional Superannuation Fund.

Isabel Cruz (Forolac, Mexico)

Specialised in rural finance, Isabel Cruz has been working during more than 20 years in the sector of sustainable financial services for the poor in rural areas. General Director of AMUCSS, Mexico, she has developed innovative solutions in the field of financial services provided in marginalised rural areas through the creation of micro banks, local self managed organizations (www.microbancos.com), micro insurances distributed through social and solidarity networks (www.microseguros.org). She is president of the Latin American and Caribbean network for rural finance regrouping 370 MFIs addressing 4.5 clients/partners (FOROLAC-FR). She is working on regulation, social performance in micro finance, savings, credit, banking exclusion and implementation of public policies.

Joël Lebossé (Filaction, Québec, Canada) Filaction finances enterprises having a sustainable development dynamic and rooted in their community, collective enterprises, co-operatives and not for profit organisations of the social economy sector. They also invest in equity in funds dedicated to micro credit and micro economy in Quebec. Founding president of consulting firms ARGOS SA in France (1986) and Pythagore co-op in Quebec (1997), Joël Lebossé is also author of several publication on local development, micro finance, solidarity finance and community empowerment through social and economic initiatives.      

Paul Ellis (Ecology Building Society, UK) Paul has been active in the environmental/green/ethical finance sphere for over 30 years.He has served as the Chief Executive of Ecology Building Society since 1995, overseeing its growth and development on a sound financial platform as the leading provider of “sustainable mortgages” in the UK, and is among others a committed environmentalist. In particular, he has developed a definition of a “Green Mortgage” and assisted in the implementation of the UK’s Energy Performance Certificate. He is a strong supporter and advocate for the mutual/co-operative form of governance.  

Michael Brand (Tembeka, South Africa) Please find Michael's biography here.     

Kristoffer Lüthi (Ekobanken, Sweden)   

Ekkehart Schmidt-Fink (Etika, Luxembourg) An economist, who spent part of his childhood in Iran, Ekkehart Schmidt-Fink specialised on questions of international migration (including return migration and remittances), intercultural topics and the muslim world while working for the private research institute Isoplan in Saarbrücken (1994-2008). Since 2008, he is the PR expert of etika in Luxemburg, concentrating on press- and sensibilsation work, describing social and ecological projects (www.etika.lu), microfinance and SRI funds. Ie is fluent in German, English and French.    

Past Presidents

Giovanni Acquati (Soliles, Italy) Past President (until June 2008)

Founder of the finance cooperative MAG2 in Milan, member of the first board of the cooperative "towards the creation of Banca Etica" in Italy, participated in several ethical associations and European projects, board member of RIPESS

Marcel Hipszman (IDES, France) - President 2008-2011

Representative of the president of Esfin-Ides group, president of Sofinei (Financing society for companies integrating excluded people in the job market), Marcel Hipszman is engaged in the financing of social economy companies for almost 20 years.