Lynn Pikholz has served as the President of CapitalPlus Exchange (CPE or Exchange), a non-profit committed to poverty reduction through unleashing the potential of small and micro- entrepreneurs through access to finance, since its founding in 2003. She also serves as Director, Capacity Building Investments of Equator Capital Partners LLC (Equator), a fund management company. Lynn directs and formulates the plans for strengthening Equator’s portfolio companies and wider knowledge exchange and industry building programs, which increase access to finance, primarily for underserved entrepreneurs and low income households. Prior to this position, Lynn was Senior Managing Director in ShoreBank’s international consulting company, heading up the Africa practice and directly managing multi-year capacity building assignments with downscaling banks and MFIs in the Middle East, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Before coming to the U.S., Lynn, a South African national, worked as an Economist and Country Risk Analyst at Barclays Bank (First National) in South Africa, and as a senior housing officer for The Urban Foundation. She served as a member of the National Housing Forum and was an advisor to the Independent Electoral Commission in 1994 for South Africa’s first democratic elections. Lynn has published several papers and holds three degrees, including two Honors degrees in Economics and Business from the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand and a Masters degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.