Sophie Romana is a private equity professional with a background in humanitarian relief and international development. She joined Planet Finance US in 2009 as Executive Director to run the US office and focus on launching a venture capital fund to help New York's small entrepreneurs gain access to capital. Prior to PlaNet Finance, she served as Vice President, Investor Relations at Mercantile Capital Partners a New York based PE fund focusing on the consumer and merchandising sectors. She brings her experience in the humanitarian and international development fields as she has worked for French non governmental organizations in France, Bosnia, Rwanda and Madagascar. Beyond her current involvement in microfinance, her interests cover carbon finance, social enterprises, corruption and governance in the banking sector. Sophie holds a bachelor degree in International Public Law and a Master’s degree in Public Law, both from Université Paris I Sorbonne and an MBA from Columbia Business School where she served as co-chair of the Sanford Bernstein Center for Leadership and Ethics' EMBA Student Board. She is a dual French-American citizen and currently lives in New York.