AMERSFOORT, the Netherlands, December 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Social investor and worldwide cooperative, Oikocredit, will welcome Mr David Woods as its new managing director from 1 January 2013.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121217/580253 )

Mr Woods' appointment follows the pending retirement of Mr Ben Simmes, who has been with Oikocredit for sixteen years across a number of key roles.

Mr Woods has extensive international business and leadership experience, having held senior positions in the banking sector and as an advisory board member to the European Institute of Interdisciplinary Research in Paris.

Oikocredit board president, Ms Salome Sengani, said the board was very pleased to have someone of Mr Woods' experience join the organization.

"Mr Woods brings a wide range of skills and experience to the organization and we believe his diverse background across complex, multi-stakeholder environments will contribute positively to Oikocredit's future," Ms Sengani said.

As an Irish national who graduated from Harvard University, Mr Woods began his career with Royal Bank of Canada, where he held several positions before moving to Dutch based financial institution, ABN AMRO, where he stayed for twenty years.

His roles with ABN AMRO included global head of e-commerce for financial markets, country head for Japan and Sweden and later COO/CFO for the Middle East.

Before joining Oikocredit, Mr Woods held leadership positions in various financial organizations in the United Arab Emirates, including CEO of a regional investment bank.

His appointment as Oikocredit managing director will see Mr Simmes move to a new role in the microfinance sector as chairman of NPM, Platform for Inclusive Finance, in the Netherlands.

Mrs Sengani said Mr Simmes played a key role in developing and implementing Oikocredit's social performance management strategy which strengthened Oikocredit's reputation as a social organization.

"The board is grateful for the contributions Mr Simmes made over his time with Oikocredit and wish him every success with his new endeavours during retirement," added Ms Sengani.

Oikocredit is one of the world's largest sources of private funding to the microfinance sector, providing credit and equity to small businesses through microfinance institutions across the developing world and directly to trade cooperatives, fair trade organizations and small-to-medium sized enterprises.