Girlie Lopez’s passion is creating access for low-income families to financial services. Over the last 17 years, Girlie has become one of the Philippines’ foremost microfinance specialists. At Build Change, Girlie oversees the scaling of housing finance loans through the organization’s microfinance partners. After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Girlie began a career in banking as a microfinance product manager. Given her broad understanding of how banks in the Philippines implement microfinance programs, Girlie was chosen as a coordinator for Chemonics International’s USAID-funded project to provide assistance to rural Philippine banks. After the completion of this project, Girlie returned to private banking, rising to the level of Chief Compliance Officer, before the opportunity arose to return to development work. In 2017, Girlie began working with Habitat for Humanity-Philippines, where she was responsible for scaling programs, monitoring and evaluating projects, and providing overall oversight of Habitat’s housing finance advisory services. Now at Build Change, Girlie continues her focus on improving access to capital, while also leading the scaling of national resilient home construction loans for the first time.