Joyce Lehman
During Homecoming 2009 in October, students, professors and community MEDA members experienced a great homecoming weekend when Joyce Lehman visited campus.
Appearing as a guest speaker at the business and economics’ department’s Annual Homecoming Breakfast, she shared her insights on the business world through her past jobs and her present position as the Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
As a former employee of MEDA, the World Bank, and presently with the Gates Foundation, Joyce had a lot to share about microfinance in the developing world. Her experiences all over the world gave her a broad perspective on empowering the world’s poor and teaching others key business practices.
With the World Bank, Joyce spent time on Afghanistan Rural Investment & Enterprise Strengthening (ARIES), a project with the primary mission of expanding access to rural financial services. The project aimed to provide financial services to small enterprises and, more specifically, female entrepreneurs.
Prior to Joyce’s work with MEDA and the World Bank, Lehman was employed as a private practice CPA and taught at Goshen College in the Business Department. Joyce used a wide variety of occupations, cross cultural encounters, and a Mennonite education to shape her career.