John Hatch

Born the son of a mother whose ancestors were Spanish conquistadors and a father descended from Mayflower pilgrims, John’s first passion was History (BA, Johns Hopkins University, 1962). After serving four years with the Peace Corps as a volunteer in Colombia and Peru as a regional director, John returned to earn an MA in Latin American History and a PhD in Economic Development from the University of Wisconsin. While working on his doctoral dissertation, John spent two crop cycles working as a hired laborer to 30 subsistence farmers in Peru, documenting the lives and farming practices of the rural poor. After obtaining his doctorate in 1976, John founded an international consulting firm—Rural Development Services—which in the ensuing decade completed over 50 contracts in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. In 1983, John invented a new microcredit methodology—Village Banking™—targeting single mothers seeking to lift their families out of severe poverty.