Elizabeth Littlefield

Biography

Elizabeth L. Littlefield was appointed by President Obama as the President and CEO of OPIC, an Under Secretary level position. OPIC, as the US Government’s Development Finance Institution, manages an $18 bn portfolio of financing and insurance to support private investment in sustainable economic development, especially in the world’s poorest countries. Under Littlefield’s leadership, OPIC’s annual commitments to renewable resources projects grew ten-fold in three years to $1.5 bn, while generating increasing income for the U.S. federal budget. Littlefield has also instituted major reforms of the agency’s policies, systems, and processes, and has introduced new financial innovations to augment the agency’s development impact.

From 2000 until 2010 Ms. Littlefield was CEO of CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), a policy and research center housed at the World Bank dedicated to advancing poor people’s access to financial services. Prior to joining CGAP in 1999, Littlefield was JP Morgan’s Managing Director in charge of capital markets and financing in emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa, among other positions. Littlefield spent 1989-1990 in West and Central Africa consulting several start-up microfinance institutions. She is a graduate of Brown University and also attended Ecole Nationale de Sciences Politiques in Paris.