MEDA's board in profile: Michelle Horning

Michelle Horning, Goshen, Indiana

Day job: Michelle Horning, associate professor of accounting and chair of the business department at Goshen College, has long MEDA connections. Her father was a MEDA member until his death, and her mother is still a member and faithfully attends most conventions. Back in 1990 Michelle and her prospective husband Chad (both college seniors at the time) attended.

MEDA’s convention in Peoria, Ill.
She likes MEDA’s strategy of tackling poverty issues with business. “I also like the opportunity for individuals to plug in at whatever level makes sense to them, whether it’s someone who supports the organization financially, to someone who has technical skills to offer.” Michelle has been able to do that twice, helping with an internal audit of MiCredito in Nicaragua four years ago, and on a trip to Africa two years earlier.

Most fun: Visiting Africa with former MEDA staffer Joyce Lehman, who also taught accounting at Goshen. “It was a consulting assignment in Uganda,” says Michelle. “A seed company owner wanted to apply for a World Bank loan focusing on African business, and needed MEDA to verify his accounting standards. He genuinely cared about his country but also found himself to be very privileged. Because of that privilege he walked in circles that were not typically Ugandan.”

Hobbies: “I love to cook and have big dinner parties,” Michelle says. She also likes gardening and baking. She and Chad (who is chief investment officer at Mennonite Mutual Aid) have two children, Dylan, five, and Eva, three, who keep them busy and provide a lot of fun – “too much fun, sometimes.”

 

Share this article | Back to the MEDAzine