immediately prior to joining the United Nations Foundation, Richenda Van Leeuwen worked as Senior Advisor to Good Energies. She focused in particular on the nexus between renewable energy investments and poverty alleviation. As a Senior Advisor to the Argidius Foundation, a COFRA foundation, she was responsible for overseeing the strategic re-structuring of the foundation and its portfolio of projects in international development and sustainable employment creation in West Africa, Central America and Eastern Europe. As Executive Director of the Trickle Up Program in New York from 2001-2005, she oversaw the strategic turnaround and restructuring of this 25-year old international micro enterprise development organization. Richenda Van Leeuwen oversaw programs in more than 30 countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas and the U.S., including a highly acclaimed pre-microfinance initiative in Timbuktu, Mali.