Sue Cooper

Sue joined Prometheus Finance as its CEO in September 2010 having come to New Zealand on a secondment from the UK office of Triodos Bank in February.

Triodos is Europe’s leading social bank investing exclusively in social and environmental projects. It has five European banking branches and an extensive international office providing a full range of specialist funds in Europe and internationally. In 2009 Triodos’ banking operations stood at €4.9bn (NZ$10.4bn) and was growing at 30% a year.

Sue joined Triodos 12 years ago after 20 years of senior experience at Barclays Bank, a major UK bank. Triodos’ UK office was still early in its development. Sue was a senior lending manager specialising in social and charitable projects and grew Triodos’s lending in this sector from $21m to $478.

Sue worked on a full range of projects from the small to the very large. The larger ones were complex and for amounts up to $53m and to a wide range of charities, including Greenpeace and Amnesty International and community initiatives including development trusts, faith groups and housing associations. She also built and oversaw a team of six who managed these loans.

Sue built a personal profile in the UK as an expert in social enterprises, charities and social finance including working with local, regional and national government, and pursuing these themes academically.