Leadership team
Martin Tschopp, Chief Executive Officer
Martin leads Kiva as CEO, with a focus on growing Kiva’s impact around the world and continuing Kiva’s legacy as a leader in expansion of economic opportunity.
Martin joined Kiva in 2015 with more than a decade of experience building marketplace and e-commerce businesses in 20 countries. He spent 12 years at eBay, where he held a variety of leadership positions including Vice President and General Manager of eBay Advertising, VP of eBay Germany and GM for Local Classifieds. He developed strategies for a dozen different countries including the United States, India, China, Japan, Singapore and South Africa, and led both small and large groups from startup phase through scale up.
Martin was inspired to move into the social good space to help empower individuals, and build strong communities from the bottom up. He holds an M.B.A. from INSEAD and a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
Premal Shah, President & Co-Founder
Premal co-founded Kiva in 2005, and has worked to promote Kiva’s mission and reach more communities around the world for more than a decade.
Premal’s inspiration for Kiva came during a 2-month volunteer trip he took to India in 2004. During his trip he worked with low-income women to help them sell handcrafts online. While the project had mixed results, it strengthened his belief that the right combination of technology, business and love can create access to opportunity for those who need it most.
Prior to Kiva, Premal worked at PayPal for 6 years as Principal Product Manager during the company’s early years. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and to FORTUNE magazine’s ‘Top 40 under 40’ list for his work as a social entrepreneur and co-founder of Kiva. He is a graduate of Stanford University.
Austin Choi, General Counsel
Austin has served as Kiva's General Counsel since 2008 and is responsible for legal matters across Kiva's operations. He oversees the negotiation of agreements with Kiva's microfinance Field Partners, corporate supporters and donors, manages the organization's regulatory compliance across multiple jurisdictions, and advises the Board of Directors on governance matters.
Austin came to Kiva with more than 10 years of legal experience working with global technology companies. He previously held positions in the legal departments of ArcSight, InVision Technologies/GE InVision and the law firm of Fenwick & West LLP. He also served as a judicial law clerk at the U.S. Court of International Trade. Austin holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard College, where he studied economic development issues, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Lisa Hogen, Chief Development Officer
Lisa leads Kiva's fundraising and communications teams. She works to develop unique partnerships with corporations and foundations to engage consumers and employees in lending on Kiva.
Lisa joined Kiva in 2010, and has more than 20 years of fundraising experience working for national and international nonprofits. Most recently, she was the Chief Development Officer at Room to Read, overseeing a global team responsible for raising $30 million each year, and managing global marketing and press relations.
Lisa also worked as the Director of Development for The Food Project, and served as a Major Gifts Officer for The Nature Conservancy. She holds a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and Economics from Tufts University.
Giovanna Masci, VP of Global Partnerships
Giovanna oversees Kiva's portfolio and operations around the world and develops Kiva's strategy for growth and expansion with partners working on the ground in more than 80 countries.
Giovanna joined Kiva in 2008 as a Partnerships Manager for Central and North America. She then moved on to become the Regional Director for the Americas, managing the team and portfolio strategy for the region.
Prior to Kiva, Giovanna worked as a consultant in the technical assistance department at ACCION New York. Giovanna holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Yale University and an M.B.A from the Yale School of Management.
Jonny Price, Senior Director of Kiva U.S.
Jonny leads Kiva’s work to reach financially excluded and socially impactful entrepreneurs in the United States with 0% interest loans.
He first came to Kiva in 2009 as a volunteer on a 5-month externship from his management consulting firm Oliver Wyman. After 6 years with Oliver Wyman in London and San Francisco, he joined Kiva full-time in 2011 to lead the direct loan pilot project Kiva Zip.
Jonny graduated with a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Cambridge.
Sonali Kothari, Chief Operating Officer
Sonali is responsible for driving impact and growth across Kiva’s product management, strategic planning, analytics and people functions. She particularly enjoys enabling collaboration and creativity across teams.
Sonali came to Kiva in 2011, with 8 years of product management experience. She built her product and operations experience at Say Media, Google, Accenture and Autobytel. Most recently, Sonali was the Director of Product Management at Transpera, a mobile video advertising company. She is currently President of the Board of Directors for the Mental Health Association of San Francisco.
Sonali graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed her M.B.A. at University of California, Los Angeles.
Chelsa Bocci, VP Marketing & Community
Chelsa was part of the original founding team of 4 who conceptualized the Kiva platform and helped launch it publicly in 2005. She now leads Kiva's marketing and community teams, developing strategy for brand management, online marketing, and community engagement and support.
Chelsa helped establish Kiva's global partnerships program in the early years of Kiva and managed many of the relationships with Kiva's Field Partners, primarily in Africa. She also oversaw Kiva's microfinance operations programs and expansive Fellows Program. Prior to Kiva, Chelsa was a Corporate Recruiter and Immigration Specialist with Barclays Global Investors.
Chelsa graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Santa Clara University.
Si White, Chief Financial Officer
Si joined Kiva in 2015 and is responsible for Kiva’s financial reporting and oversight.
He has been working in the microfinance arena for the last 10 years, first as the CFO of the Grameen Foundation and then on the foundation’s Board of Directors. Si worked and lived internationally in a variety of global financial leadership roles with several Fortune 100 companies, including PepsiCo, Nestle and Cisco, and most recently as SVP, Global Finance at International Game Technology.
Si is a board member of Save the Bay in San Francisco and a member of the Audit Committee of Juhudi Kilimo, a Micro Finance Institution in Kenya. Si is a CPA and holds a degree in Business from California State University, Northridge.
Kevin O'Brien, Chief Technology Officer
Kevin sets the technological vision for the engineering organization and works to leverage the resources and software available to help Kiva operate and scale. His primary responsibility is ensuring that the Kiva platform runs perfectly behind the scenes so that lenders and borrowers across the world can benefit from and delight in the Kiva experience without worrying about the technology that drives it.
Kevin joined Kiva in 2011 to enable global opportunity via technology. Earlier in his career, Kevin served with AmeriCorps, developed services architectures at San Francisco State University, maintained satellite receivers and systems for California Maritime Academy, and worked to save the desert tortoise for Student Conservation Association. He studied Computer Programming at Daytona State College and holds a degree in International Relations from San Francisco State University.
Board of Directors
All board members, except Kiva's CEO and President, are independent voting members.Julie Hanna, Executive Chair of the Board, Kiva
Julie Hanna is an entrepreneur, investor and advisor working with purpose-driven, technology companies to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. In 2015, President Obama appointed her Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Serving in roles that ranged from founding executive to founder and CEO, Hanna has pioneered products and led companies that have allowed millions of people to connect, communicate and collaborate globally. Among them, Healtheon (now WebMD), onebox.com (now Unwired Planet), Portola (acquired by Netscape) and open source pioneer, Scalix.
Hanna is an internationally acclaimed speaker and advocate for the democratizing potential of technology to enable a more just world at scale. In recognition of her vision and global impact on economic and social progress, Hanna was named the United States Woman Icon of APEC and is a recipient of the 2016 Global Empowerment Award.
Board member since 2009.
Wences Casares, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Xapo
Wences is a global, financial technology entrepreneur. He is currently founder and CEO of Bitcoin pioneer Xapo, and serves on the board of Endeavor, a nonprofit that supports high-impact entrepreneurs globally.
Previously, he founded successful technology and financial ventures in the U.S., South America and Europe. He created Argentina’s first Internet Service Provider before dropping out of college, and then went on to found Patagon, Latin America’s premier online brokerage, which was acquired by Banco Santander. He later founded Banco Lemon, a Brazilian retail bank, as well as mobile payment companies Bling Nation and Lemon Wallet.
Board member since 2015.
Maya Chorengel, Co-Founder, Elevar
Maya is co-founder of Elevar, an impact investment firm supporting market based solutions for the billions at the base of the economic pyramid. Elevar's first fund, Unitus Equity Fund, was one of the first funds to invest equity in microfinance and, like Kiva, was seen as a critical and innovative approach to addressing the capital gaps for the underserved.
She is an advisor to several impact investing funds and has served on the boards of the International Association of Microfinance Investors, Silicon Valley Microfinance Network, and Dignity Fund, where she was also Managing Director and recently was a member of the National Advisory Board on impact investing.
Board member since 2015.
Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, LinkedIn
Prior to LinkedIn, Reid was Executive Vice President of PayPal where he was in charge of all business relationships. During his tenure at PayPal, Reid was instrumental to the acquisition by eBay.
Reid has also held management roles in various technology companies, including Fujitsu Software Corporation and Apple. Reid serves on the Board of Directors for Airbnb, DoSomething.org and Edmodo, among others.
Board member since 2006.
Amy Klement, VP Investments, Omidyar Network
Amy Klement is partner at Omidyar Network and leads the firm's education initiative that creates opportunity for millions of people living at the base of the pyramid. Amy oversees Omidyar Network's investments in Bridge International Academy, Elevar and Social Finance U.S. , among others, and sits on the boards of Kiva, Living Goods, Mimoni and Range Networks.
Prior to Omidyar Network, Amy spent much of her career at eBay, Inc., joining PayPal as one of its earliest employees in 1999. She served as Vice President of Product, and was instrumental in the launch of PayPal Mobile, before transitioning to eBay as Vice President of Relationship Marketing.
Board member since 2010.
John D. Muller, Vice President of Global Payments Policy, PayPal
John has spent more than a quarter century focusing on the role that financial law and regulatory compliance can play in fostering prosperity, openness and opportunity. At PayPal, John leads a legal department working to reinvent commercial and payment law to bring the benefits of connected commerce to businesses and consumers. He joined PayPal in 2000 as General Counsel, and became Vice President of legal in 2002.
John has also served as the co-chair of the American Bar Association Joint Subcommittee on Electronic Financial Services and as the chair of the California Bar Association Financial Institutions Committee.
Board member since 2014.
Ρremal Shah, President & Co-Founder, Kiva
Premal Shah co-founded Kiva in 2005, and has worked to promote Kiva’s mission and reach more communities around the world for more than a decade. Premal’s inspiration for Kiva came during a 2-month volunteer trip to India that strengthened his belief that the right combination of technology, business and love can create access to opportunity for those who need it most.
Prior to Kiva, Premal worked at PayPal for 6 years as Principal Product Manager during the company’s early years. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and to FORTUNE magazine’s ‘Top 40 under 40’ list for his work as a social entrepreneur and co-founder of Kiva.
Board member since 2006.
Martin Tschοpp, Chief Executive Officer, Kiva
Martin Tschopp leads Kiva as CEO, with a focus on growing Kiva’s impact around the world and continuing Kiva’s legacy as a leader in financial inclusion and expansion of economic opportunity.
Martin joined Kiva in 2015 with more than a decade of experience building marketplace and e-commerce businesses in 20 countries. He spent 12 years at eBay, where he held a variety of leadership positions including Vice President and General Manager of eBay Advertising, VP of eBay Germany and GM for Local Classifieds. He developed strategies for a dozen different countries and led both small and large groups from startup phase through scale up.
Board member since 2015.
Tabreez Verjee, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Uprising
Tabreez is an entrepreneur and investor who co-founded Uprising to invest in and support mission-driven technology entrepreneurs. Some of the change makers he has backed include the people behind Change.org, Upworthy, Amicus and Purpose.
Early in his career, Tabreez co-founded a boutique finance company, before moving over to the technology space and leading the internet music company Sonique. Tabreez then co-founded Global Asset Capital, which began incubating startups and making angel investments. It grew into a venture capital firm with $500 million in committed capital and over 40 portfolio companies in the U.S. and Europe.
Board member since 2006.