Mayada El-Zoghbi is a founding partner of Banyan Global, a development consulting firm based in New York.  She has founded and managed several microfinance institutions in conflicted affected areas including MFIs in Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo.  She is co-author of a manual and trainer's guide for a course on Microfinance in Conflict Affected Communities developed in partnership with the International Labour Organization and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.  In the past 8 years, Ms. El-Zoghbi has been working to support microfinance organizations, donors and investors in numerous conflict affected countries and territories.  She has been the Research Director for the AMAP Knowledge Generation project focused on conflict and microfinance.   Additionally, for the past three years, she was adjunct associate professor at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs teaching courses on microfinance. Ms. El-Zoghbi holds a Master’s of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and a BS in Business from the University of Minnesota.