Individual Bios

Eliza M. Erikson, Portfolio Manager, International Investments

Eliza M. Erikson is responsible for the management and growth of Calvert Foundation's international portfolio. Under her direction, that portfolio has grown from $10 million to over $60 million in loans and equity investments outstanding in microfinance, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and water and sanitation. Prior to joining Calvert Foundation, she worked with the Corporation for Enterprise Development and the US Agency for International Development, providing management consulting and investment services to development finance institutions in the US, Latin America, South Asia and North Africa. In addition, Eliza designed and implemented a microfinance program at a community development corporation in the central highlands of Guatemala. Eliza earned a Masters in Public Policy (M.P.P.) with concentrations in finance and program evaluation from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, as well as an A.B. in Politics from Princeton University, where she graduated magna cum laude. Eliza is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of MFX Solutions, a new company which provides microfinance institutions and investors modern tools to analyze and manage their currency risk, enabling them to provide more funding, more safely, to poor entrepreneurs in the developing world. She lives with her husband and two daughters in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

What are you most proud of?

I am most proud of my two daughters, Eve and Sonia. They are twins but I have never met two more different individuals. The future is bright indeed!

If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?

My grandfather, renowned journalist and columnist Stewart Alsop. He died six months before I was born, the first of his many grandchildren. He wrote extensively on the state of the world and traveled to a dizzying number of countries. I think we could have fascinating discussions and lively debate on the state of the world today!

Describe an opportunity someone gave you that made a big difference in your life.

I received a fellowship from a Princeton University alumnus to live and work in Guatemala right after graduating college. Through serendipity, I ended up working with two microfinance institutions, and thus began my passion for microfinance and all ventures that treat those at the bottom of the pyramid as valued members of an integrated financial system with inherent abilities to transform both themselves and their communities.