David Woods to join Oikocredit as Managing Director
Microfinance Focus, December 17, 2012: Social investor and worldwide cooperative, Oikocredit today announced appointment of Mr David Woods as its new managing director from 1 January 2013. Mr Woods’ appointment follows the pending retirement of Mr Ben Simmes, who has been with Oikocredit for sixteen years across a number of key roles.
Mr Woods has extensive international business and leadership experience, having held senior positions in the banking sector and as an advisory board member to the European Institute of Interdisciplinary Research in Paris.
As an Irish national who graduated from Harvard University, Mr Woods began his career with Royal Bank of Canada, where he held several positions before moving to Dutch based financial institution, ABN AMRO, where he stayed for twenty years.
His roles with ABN AMRO included global head of e-commerce for financial markets, country head for Japan and Sweden and later COO/CFO for the Middle East.
Before joining Oikocredit, Mr Woods held leadership positions in various financial organizations in the United Arab Emirates, including CEO of a regional investment bank.
His appointment as Oikocredit managing director will see Mr Simmes move to a new role in the microfinance sector as chairman of NPM, Platform for Inclusive Finance, in The Netherlands.
