Peter will be taking on the new role after serving as the organization's Manager of Strategic Initiatives since January, 2014. He will be focused on growing the Kiva Detroit program, which gives individuals the opportunity to help local small businesses grow and succeed through interest-free microloans. He will help orchestrate Michigan Corps' third annual competition for innovative and impact-driven entrepreneurs, the Social Entrepreneurship Challenge. He will also spearhead Michigan Corps' communication efforts as the organization seeks to share the stories of the state's many changemakers. 

 

Peter brings experience across several disciplines in both the private and nonprofit sectors. His professional background spans marketing, finance and nonprofit management. His corporate experience includes work in advertising with McGarryBowen in New York, and in real estate finance with a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway - Berkadia Commercial Mortgage in Southfield, Michigan. He has engaged in social impact work both in the US and abroad. He gained first-hand experience in social enterprise while working with a Michigan company that gave people with traumatic brain injuries the opportunity to build and sell furniture. While at the University of Michigan, he worked with the marketing team at the Ross School of Business' Social Venture Fund, the nation's first student-led impact investing fund. During his years spent living abroad, he helped run a youth program with a focus on community reconciliation efforts in Belfast, Northern Ireland and worked in the Philippines with the Gawad Kalinga Center for Social Innovation, a Skoll Award-winning social enterprise incubator focused on creating sustainable Filipino brands. 

 

As Manager of Strategic Initiatives, Peter oversaw the Kiva Detroit program which facilitates microloans for small business owners through the Kiva crowdfunding platform. He helped orchestrate Michigan Corps' 2nd Annual Social Entrepreneurship Challenge, which was the nation's first state-wide competition in social entrepreneurship. He then coordinated the Impact Investment Fellowship program, which provided the winners of the Challenge with investment-readiness consulting and connected them to impact investors. 

 

Peter has been inspired through his work with the state's many innovative and community-minded changemakers. He's looking forward to growing the social entrepreneurship movement and increasing the organization's impact. 

 

You can follow him on Twitter at pete_benedetto.