The University of Pennsylvania Microfinance Club held its first conference, Microfinance: Poverty's Macro Solution? on Friday, March 30, 2007, at the Wharton School in Philadelphia. A keynote address by Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of WWB, followed opening remarks by Arnaud Ventura of PlaNet Finance and Jason Mischel of the University of Pennsylvania. Other highlights of the conference included a second keynote address by Alex Counts of Grameen Foundation and panel discussions on topics such as Performance Metrics in Microfinance,MFIs as Investment Vehicles‚ and The Social Impact of Microfinance: Sustainable Development, the Environment, and Post-Conflict Development.

On the occasion of the conference, the Philadelphia Inquirer published an interview with Ms. Iskenderian on the front page of its Business Section.

Read the Philadelphia Inquirer interview with Mary Ellen Iskenderian.