Stephen Lockley joined VisionFund as the Chief Financial Officer in October of 2010. In this role, he has overall responsibility for finance, funding, and risk management across the VisionFund network.

Reflecting on his first few months, Stephen says "It’s very exciting to be getting involved in the incredible work everyone in VisionFund does to deliver benefits to many of the world’s most deserving people".

Stephen came to VisionFund from a background of over 20 years in banking. Stephen shares, "I have been fortunate enough to have had a number of varied experiences. I trained as a UK chartered accountant, have advised clients on all aspects of corporate finance, been group finance director of a stock-market quoted banking group, and built up and run two different banking businesses."

Stephen is thrilled to put this experience to work in an organisation which exists to benefit the world’s less fortunate and is not run just to serve the commercial interests of its shareholders.

Stephen also brings to VisionFund the skills and insights he has gained from non-executive directorships at an investment fund and an insurance company, as well as his role as a trustee of Mission Aviation Fellowship, a Christian charity operating relief flights with its own fleet of 120 light aircraft across the developing world. Through this latter role, Stephen has developed a real concern for the difficulties facing many in the world’s poorer nations.

Looking to the future, Stephen sees a significant opportunity for VisionFund to expand its footprint of services to the underbanked, adding new products as well as additional geographies.

Stephen closes in sharing, "Being an integral part of World Vision places VisionFund in a unique position to work with other World Vision programmes to maximise the social impact of our microfinance services. There is massive scope for us to carry on doing good in many parts of the world, and that is something that I find rewarding and exciting."