Dear Kiva Community,
I am writing to share an important transition for Kiva’s Board of Directors. After 15 years of service, I have stepped down as Executive Chair of the Board. It is my delight to announce that Kiva Board Member, Andre Haddad, has been unanimously elected to serve as our new Board Chair.
Andre’s connection to Kiva goes back 14 years when he first became a lender. He has been an invaluable board member since 2020, bringing insight and thoughtfulness to every initiative. His historic experience building and scaling digital marketplaces, and currently as CEO and Chairperson of Turo, gives us confidence that he will lead with both competence and conviction of the heart.
It has been a profound honor to share this journey with you, one that has seen Kiva grow from $25 million to nearly $2.5 billion loans, connecting millions of people around the world.
As a Coptic Egyptian, a survivor of war, an American immigrant, as President Obama’s Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship and Kiva’s Executive Board Chair, I have personally experienced and witnessed the dignity and hope that is restored when people get a fair shot, when they gain access to opportunity and capital, when someone takes a chance on them.
The story of my beginnings is far from unique. It is the story of hundreds of millions of people and those we serve. This is why I fell in love with Kiva and with all of you. For it is your character, compassion and commitment that animates and breathes life into Kiva every day.
Individually, you are Kiva’s massively generous lenders and donors, our intensely committed partners and tireless volunteers, all united by a passion to back the dreams of Kiva’s infinitely resilient and resourceful entrepreneurs.
Collectively, you are the miraculous totality that is the Kiva community helping fulfill a part of earth’s furthest dream to co-create a just, free and abundant world for all - for the many, not just the few. In a world divided, you stand as a beacon for our shared humanity, uniting us as a global family. And perhaps most poignantly, giving back to the world a portion of its lost heart.
My departing hope is to instill you with an urgency to touch more lives. To offer a path forward for the billions who remain unseen, unserved and unbanked. To alleviate the suffering of the far too many who have been left behind by the formal economy, especially the most vulnerable among us - women and children. To remember that together we are changing the world one person at a time, one dream at a time.
One dream can transform a million, even a billion realities. It’s the only thing that ever has. And thanks to you, Kiva has.
Thank you for the honor of serving this great dream, for these are the most hopeful truths I know.
Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Andre, Kiva’s incoming Board Chair, as he steps in to lead us forward now.
With gratitude and faith in our future,
Julie
