THE BOARD

Loren Finnell is the President, CEO, and Founder The Resource Foundation. He is a humanitarian, a pioneer, and a social entrepreneur with 47 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations (NGOs) worldwide. In 1987, he founded The Resource Foundation to leverage the resources and experience of donors worldwide and NGOs in Latin America and the Caribbean to increase the self-reliance and living standards of the disadvantaged. He has been credited with "taking a leading role in making American development donors and practitioners focus on the needs of local NGOs," as well as "writing the book" on encouraging and helping individuals and corporations support the work of these agencies.

In honor of his life's work, The National Peace Corps Association selected Dr. Finnell to receive the 2006 Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service at a ceremony in the Senate Caucus Room on Capitol Hill. He was designated to be a Skoll Foundation Fellow that same year. He has been honored three times by his alma mater, Manchester College, first for his philanthropic activity (1997), and followed by an Alumni Award (2002). He then received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa, and gave the commencement address at the May 2008 graduation exercises. In 2009, the Foreign Policy Association, the nationŐs oldest international affairs organization, invited him to become a Fellow. In 2011, he was invited to become a member of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Prior to establishing The Resource Foundation in 1987, Dr. Finnell headed his own consulting firm for eight years, supporting the programmatic and management needs of U.S., Canadian and developing world NGOs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, as well as fulfilling USAID contracts. From 1972 to 1979, Dr. Finnell helped found and develop Private Agencies Collaborating Together (PACT), a U.S. based international consortium of NGOs, serving as its Deputy Executive Director and managing a Development Fund that made grants to development projects benefiting low-income individuals and families.

Dr. Finnell had two tenures with International Voluntary Services, as Program Director in Washington, DC (1971-72) and as Staff in Laos (1966-68) during the time of conflict. In the interim, he was Project Officer for the International Development Foundation, serving in Colombia and Ecuador. His international career began as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador during 1964-66. Dr. Finnell has written numerous technical documents, reports and publications on management and programmatic issues facing NGOs worldwide. He has visited 44 countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia on multiple occasions, and he is fluent in Spanish and has a solid understanding of Portuguese.