Microfinance organization ACCION International, headquartered in Boston, has elected four new members to its board of directors and has appointed Diana Taylor as its new chair, effective June 19.

Taylor brings expertise in banking and finance to her role as ACCION board chair.  Currently a managing director at Wolfensohn & Co., a New York-based investment banking firm, she has also served as superintendent of banks for the state of New York, from 2003 to 2007. Between 1996 and 2003 she held various positions in the New York state government, including CFO of the Long Island Power Authority and deputy secretary to the governor for housing and finance. Prior to her government work, Taylor was an investment banker at Smith Barney, Lehman Bros. and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette.

Taylor is succeeding Alvaro Rodriguez Arregui as ACCION board chair, who will remain an active member of the board.

"I am profoundly honored to help direct an organization with so much history, so many ‘firsts’ in microfinance and poverty alleviation, and such a promising future," said Taylor. "I’m enormously grateful to Alvaro for his contributions and fierce dedication to ACCION, and we thank him deeply for his outstanding work as board chair."

ACCION also welcomes  the following new members to the board: Nancy Birdsall, president, Center for Global Development; Ricardo Hausmann, director, Harvard Center for International Development and professor of the practice of economic development, Kennedy School of Government; Barbara Lucus, former partner and chairperson, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; and Roy Sosa, chairman, MPOWER Ventures and CEO, MPOWER Labs. Gustavo Herrero, executive director of the Latin America Research Center at Harvard Business School and a long-time ACCION board member, will take over as ACCION’s vice-chair.