About Mercy Corps: Our Leadership:

Steve Mitchell, Chief Financial Officer & Vice President, Financial Services

Steve Mitchell brings corporate banking acumen and zeal for international development to his role overseeing Mercy Corps’ financial operations and its innovative microfinance projects around the world.

Mitchell has 27 years of domestic and international finance and banking experience. He has worked for major private sector financial institutions, including US Bank, where he financed Fortune 1000 leveraged transactions and directed financial institution lending for the western U.S.

Mitchell joined Mercy Corps in 2002 as vice president of finance, and was promoted to chief financial officer shortly thereafter. He oversees the international finance, accounting, information technology, regulatory compliance, training, internal audit and microfinance areas of the agency.

Mitchell regularly visits Mercy Corps’ international offices. His most frequent stop is Indonesia, where he was instrumental in forming Bank Andara, a commercial “bank of banks” that will partner with thousands of microfinance institutions and expand access to financial services for the poor. He has traveled extensively in Mongolia, where he served as board chair of XacBank (pronounced hass bank), one of Asia’s largest microfinance institutions. His commercial banking expertise is essential to Mercy Corps’ efforts to grow Bank Andara and other microfinance institutions, which are among the agency’s primary means of helping poor people improve their livelihoods.

At headquarters, Mitchell manages the agency’s various technical and administrative functions in ways that further Mercy Corps’ mission to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

Mitchell received his MBA in finance from the University of California, Irvine, and his BA in political science and liberal arts from Brigham Young University. He began his career in the islands of Samoa in the 1970s where, as a 20-year-old missionary leader, he supported health programs that provided specialized care to young mothers and infants.

Mitchell is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Treasury Professional, and has presented at national accounting and microfinance conferences and forums. In 2008, he received the Portland Business Journal’s non-profit CFO of the Year award. He currently serves as board chair of Bank Andara, is on the executive committee of Mercy Corps Scotland, and is an investment committee member of Microvest Capital, LLC, which manages $30 million in investments to microfinance banks worldwide.