Since 10 June 1997, Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess has been a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the promotion of microcredits and for the education of women and girls throughout the world. The Grand Duchess supports projects dealing with improvement in the quality of life of girls, women and their families, thanks to the implementation of education programmes and the granting of microcredit. In 2007, the Grand Duchess was named "Eminent defender of the children" of Unicef - in this quality she gets involved especially in favour of the AIDS orphans and the children-soldiers.

The Grand Duchess is Chairwoman of Fondation du Grand-Duc Henri et de la Grande-Duchesse Maria Teresa. The aim of this Foundation is to help needy people in Luxembourg. It also supports development assistance projects.

The Grand Duchess is also Chairwoman of the Luxembourg Red Cross and Honorary Chairwoman of the Luxembourg Foundation Against Cancer, as well as Honorary Chairwoman of the Foundation for Research on AIDS Research. The Luxembourg League of Medical and Social Prevention and Action is placed under her High Patronage.
 
She is High Protector of the SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde Association and an member of the International Paralympic Committee Honorary Board. She is also an active member of the Mentor Foundation, which was created under the sponsorship of the World Health Organisation, which works to prevent drug use by young people.

Her Royal Highness was named Doctor Honoris Causa at Seton Hall University (New Jersey, USA, October 1999) and the University of León (Nicaragua, February 2003).

On 13 June 2006, she received the “Path to Peace Award 2006” in New York, a prize awarded each year to a key figure of public life who has distinguished him or herself through humanitarian and social commitment.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Geneva.

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Member of the LCL Executive Committee

Agnès de Clermont-Tonnerre was named Head of the Finance and General Affairs unit of LCL in February 2009.

She began her career at the French Ministry of Equipment and Transports in 1980, before joining the Treasury Division of the Ministry of Finance four years later.

She joined Crédit Lyonnais in 2000 and became its General Secretary from 2004. She was appointed General Secretary of Crédit Agricole SA in January 2006 and then joined LCL in October 2008 as Head of General Affairs and member of the Executive Committee.

Agnès de Clermont-Tonnerre is a graduate of École Nationale d’Administration (ENA) and Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) of Paris.

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Beatriz Armendariz holds a Ph.D in Economics. She teaches Economics at Harvard University and University College London. She has written several academic articles, which have been published in American, French, Belgian and Mexican journals. She is also co-author of the book “The Economics of Microfinance” (MIT Press 2010), along with Prof Jonathan Morduch, and “Handbook of Microfinance” (Word Scientific Publisher, 2010, London - Singapore), along with Prof Marc Labie.

Beatriz Armendariz has worked as a researcher at the OECD in Paris, and she is an affiliated researcher with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies in the United States and the Centre for European Research in Microfinance in Belgium. Her research deals mostly with development economics, financial inclusion and microfinance. She founded Grameen Replications in Chiapas, Mexico, in the 1990s.

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Mohammad Shahjahan began his career at Grameen Bank in 1984. He is currently Acting Managing Director and Head of the Accounts, Finance, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division of Grameen Bank. He is also member of the Board of several companies of the Grameen family. These companies work in the fields of agriculture, welfare, renewable energy, telecommunications, venture capital and investment banking.

Mohammad Shahjahan obtained an accounting diploma (B. Com) with honours from the University of Dhaka in 1976, as well as a Master’s degree in Accounting and a Master’s degree in Finance from the same university, in 1977 and 1981 respectively.

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Christian Talgorn was born on April 21, 1949 in Tregunc, Brittany. He graduated in political sciences and public law. He has been  a member of the European Research Center of Rennes 1 University since 1975 and author of a great number of books and papers about European Union matters, specifically about the European Farm Policy, the internal market, institutional questions, regional policy, the enlargement of the Union, social and corporate policy, lobbying in Brussels.

Since 1990 Christian Talgorn has been Administrator at Crédit Agricole du Morbihan and since 2006, Chairman of the Caisse Régionale. He is also Administrator at Crédit Agricole SA.

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