Education
Harvard Kennedy School. Harvard University.
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Peter Greer
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Peter Keith Greer is a Christian advocate for the poor, an author, and the president of Health Opportunities for People Everywhere International, a global faith-based microfinance organization based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, serving entrepreneurs throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.
Career
Greer was raised in Carlisle, Massachusetts, graduating from Concord-Carlisle High School (1993). He is a graduate of Messiah College (Bachelor of Science, 1997) and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (Master in Public Policy, 2004). While traveling to Russia through Messiah’s International Business Institute, Greer was first introduced to microfinance and "quickly recognized it as a perfect opportunity to combine my interests in business and missions."
Upon graduation, Greer spent two years in the business sector before World Relief hired him to work as a microfinance adviser in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
He also served as a technical adviser for Self-Help Development Foundation (Cooperative American Relief Everywhere Zimbabwe) in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
In 1999, he became the managing director for URWEGO Community Bank in Kigali, Rwanda, managing there for three years. After gaining experience in microfinance, he attended Harvard University, focusing one of his research projects on Health Opportunities for People Everywhere International’s work in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Under Greer’s leadership and Jeff Rutt"s help, Health Opportunities for People Everywhere has expanded from having a presence in two countries, with an operating budget of $1.2 million to being in 14 countries, with an operating budget of $6.2 million in 2008. He has emphasized Health Opportunities for People Everywhere"s partnerships with the local and global church as well as initiated Health Opportunities for People Everywhere"s four distinctives: focus on microfinance, intentional witness for Christ, commitment to stewardship, and dedication to the hard places around the world.
During his presidency, he co-founded the Health Opportunities for People Everywhere Global-Investment Fund in September 2008 with the intention of raising $6 million in private investments.
As an advocate for the Church’s role in reaching the poor, Greer has been a featured speaker at leading Christian conferences, such as Catalyst, Urbana, Passion, and Jubilee, and he has been a frequent speaker for Harvard’s International Development Conference and Southern New Hampshire University’s School of Community Economic Development.
Achievements
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Born
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Religion
Christian