Meet Sandra Prieto, a woman whose work in market-driven affordable housing programs has impacted more than 8 million people.

After consulting with New Story for the past year, Sandra Prieto is now joining our executive team full-time to help us provide adequate housing for 1 million people by 2030.

“Joining forces with other executive members will allow me to continue influencing the strategy to achieve our audacious goals. We’ll be able to lean on each other’s experience and expertise to move the mission forward. I believe that individual talents aren’t enough on their own to achieve big goals. It takes an orchestra of individual superpowers working together.” — Sandra Prieto

Sandra is joining New Story as the Managing Director of New Story NEXT, the newly formed strategy focused on accelerating the development of sustainable and scalable paths to homeownership for vulnerable households.

New Story is on a mission to house 1M people in Latin America by 2030. Sandra’s experience and leadership will accelerate our work toward that goal.    

Sandra is an international development and financial inclusion expert, bringing 27 years of experience across 32 countries. When she was 23 years old, she became the youngest executive director of a microfinance institution in Colombia. One of her first tasks was to ask for the resignation of the board. However, she kept the organization alive and grew it to one of the best-performing institutions within its network spanning 35 countries. 

Before joining New Story, Sandra served as the global director of operations and financial inclusion at Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter. She spearheaded the creation of the center to engage private sector stakeholders and housing market actors to expand innovative and affordable housing products, services, and financing for vulnerable families. The unit started in 2012 with a $250,000 budget. Sandra’s team led its growth to a global unit that has mobilized more than $21 billion to support more than 28 million people.   

New Story’s evolving strategy focuses on breaking down financial barriers between vulnerable families and adequate housing. 

Sandra’s experience in market-driven approaches and her expertise in affordable housing finance for low-income populations is helping us create homeownership opportunities for at-risk people living on less than $10 per day. Under Sandra’s leadership, New Story NEXT is transforming the affordable housing market by investing in innovation, scalable strategies, and partnerships. 

During Sandra’s year-long consulting work, New Story NEXT formed partnerships with world-class organizations such as Reall, UR+PA, Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center, and many others. The team is preparing to deploy their first investment and has already conducted key research that is helping to expand housing markets in Mexico. 

“I am excited about the opportunity to continue expanding my purpose in life by shaping the market-driven strategy at New Story and helping to reduce the housing deficit in Latin America. It is truly an honor to work with such a talented team that’s passionate about their mission to end global homelessness.” — Sandra Prieto