“How has business become a force for good in development? Or has it?”
Elizabeth Littlefield, Former CEO of OPIC
November 4, 2017
Elizabeth L. Littlefield was appointed by President Obama as the President and CEO of OPIC, an Under Secretary level position, and served from 2010 until January 2017. OPIC, as the US Government’s Development Finance Institution, operates in 106 countries and manages a $22 billion portfolio of financing and insurance to support private investment in sustainable economic development, particularly in the world’s poorest countries. Under Littlefield’s leadership, OPIC’s annual commitments to renewable resources projects grew ten-fold in three years to $1.5 billion, while generating increasing income for the federal budget – a number that reached $434 million in 2015. She has also instituted major reforms of the agency’s policies, systems and processes and introduced new financial innovations to augment the agency’s development impact. Ms. Littlefield was also appointed by President Obama to serve as a member of the White House Development Council and the President’s Export Council. Ms. Littlefield was presented in 2012 with the Secretary’s Distinguished Service Award, the highest award in the Foreign Service, by Secretary Hillary Clinton.