RITVA REINIKKA

Economist/Steering Committee Chair

RITVA REINIKKA, a Finnish national, is an economist and the Chair of the Steering Committee for the Service Delivery Indicators Initiative.  She teaches development economics and works on impact and policy analysis, including with the Centennial Group International.

Formely, Ms. Reinikka was a director at the World Bank.  After joining the Bank in 1993 as a country economist, she held various positions in the Bank’s Africa Region, Development Research Group, and Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA), and was Co-Director of the 2004 World Development Report Making Services Work for Poor People.  Specifically, in 2004-08 Ms. Reinikka was the World Bank Country Director based in South Africa; in 2008-2010 Director for Poverty Reduction, Economic Management, Private Sector and Finance in MENA; and in 2010-2013 Director for the Human Development Group in the Africa Region.

Her professional and research interests include public economics, service delivery, governance, education, and micro foundations of economic growth.  She has published widely on development in peer reviewed journals and policy-oriented outlets.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Ms. Reinikka was a researcher at the Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford, and the Helsinki School of Economics. She has also held operational positions in UNICEF and with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. She holds a DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.

JAKOB SVENSSON

Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University

Jakob Svensson is a professor of economics and director at the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES) Stockholm University. He received his PhD in economics from IIES in 1996 and before rejoining IIES he spent five years at the research department of the World Bank. Jakob has been the principal researcher for a number of larger scale randomized trials in Africa covering various issues of accountability (broadly defined) in both the health and the education sector. He is research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), European Development Research Network (EUDN), Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), a research affiliate of J-PAL, and an advisory group member of CGD-Europe. He is also a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and since 2014 a member of the Economic Sciences Prize in Memory of Alfred Nobel Committee. Jakob was the recipient of the 2009 Assar Lindbeck Medal.

RUTH LEVINE

Hewlett Foundation

Ruth Levine is the Program Director of Global Development and Population at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Ruth is an internationally recognized development economist and expert in global health, education and evaluation. Since 2011, she has led the foundation’s team responsible for grantmaking to improve living conditions in low- and middle-income countries, and to advance reproductive health and rights in developing countries and in the United States.

Previously, Ruth was a deputy assistant administrator in the Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning at the U.S. Agency for International Development. In that role, she led the development of the agency’s evaluation policy.

Ruth spent nearly a decade at the Center for Global Development, as a senior fellow and vice president for programs and operations. She helped shape the center’s approach to reduce global poverty and inequality, conducted independent research and devised new policy solutions. She also designed and evaluated health and education projects at the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank.

Ruth is the author of scores of books and publications on global health policy, including “Millions Saved: Proven Successes in Global Health,” and co-wrote the report, “When Will We Ever Learn? Improving Lives through Impact Evaluation.” She holds an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Cornell University and a doctorate degree in economic demography from Johns Hopkins University.

LEMMA SEMBET

Executive Director of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)

Lemma W. Senbet is the Executive Director of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC; www.aercafrica.org). He is on leave from the University of Maryland as the William E. Mayer Chair Professor of Finance at the Smith School of and the founding Director of Center for Financial Policy. Professor Senbet was Chair of the Finance Department, 1998-2006, and his tenure saw rapid transformation of the department into world class. His widely cited publications have appeared in the Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Business, and other leading academic journals. He has received numerous honors and professional recognitions. He has been a director of the American Finance Association and served as President of the Western Finance Association. He is inducted Fellow of the Financial Management Association International and a member of the Financial Economists Roundtable. Professor Senbet was awarded an honorary doctor of letters Honoris Causa by Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia's flagship institution of higher learning. He has advised the World Bank, the IMF, the UN, and other institutions on issues of financial sector reforms and capital market development.

Professor Senbet has served as an independent director for The Fortis Funds and currently is an independent director for The Hartford Funds. Senbet has also served on over a dozen editorial boards, including the Journal of Finance (12 years), Financial Management (20 years), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (7 years), served as executive editor of Financial Management (6 years), and Editor (Finance), JIBS (5 years). Senbet has produced a string of doctoral students and placed them in major universities, including Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Florida, and Minnesota. Among his former students are Dean of Tepper School at Carnegie Mellon and Chief Economist of the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

AGNES SOUCAT

World Health Organization

Director, Department of Health Systems Governance and Financing

Dr Agnes Soucat is World Health Organization (WHO) Director, Department of Health Systems Governance and Financing in the Cluster on Health Systems and Services. Before joining WHO, she was the Global Lead: Health, Nutrition and Population for the World Bank and part of the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, where she was involved in creating Global Health 2035. Soucat previously held the position of Director for Human Development for the African Development Bank, where she was responsible for health, education and social protection for 53 African countries. She has worked for the World Bank in various capacities, including as Lead Economist and Advisor for Human Development for Africa; she additionally worked for UNAIDS, UNICEF and the European Commission. Soucat has many publications to her name, notably as co-author of the World Development Report 2004 ‘Making Services Work for Poor People’. A French national, Soucat holds an MD and Masters in Nutrition from the University of Nance, and a Master of Public Health and PhD in Health Economics from Johns Hopkins University.

SHANTAYANAN DEVARAJAN

World Bank

Chief Economist

(202) 473-7691

Shantayanan Devarajan is the Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Region.  

Since joining the World Bank in 1991, he has been:

• A Principal Economist and Research Manager for Public Economics in the Development Research Group;
• The Chief Economist of the Human Development Network;
• The Chief Economist of the South Asia Region; and 
• The Chief Economist of the Africa Region.  

He was the director of the World Development Report 2004, Making Services Work for Poor People. 

Before 1991, he was on the faculty of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. The author or co-author of over 100 publications, Mr. Devarajan’s research covers public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment, and general equilibrium modeling of developing countries. 

Born in Sri Lanka, Mr. Devarajan received his B.A. in mathematics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

JAKOB SVENSSON

Institute for International Economic Studies, Stockholm University

Jakob Svensson is a professor of economics and director at the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES) Stockholm University. He received his PhD in economics from IIES in 1996 and before rejoining IIES he spent five years at the research department of the World Bank. Jakob has been the principal researcher for a number of larger scale randomized trials in Africa covering various issues of accountability (broadly defined) in both the health and the education sector. He is research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), European Development Research Network (EUDN), Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD), a research affiliate of J-PAL, and an advisory group member of CGD-Europe. He is also a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and since 2014 a member of the Economic Sciences Prize in Memory of Alfred Nobel Committee. Jakob was the recipient of the 2009 Assar Lindbeck Medal.

LEONARD WANTCHEKON

Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy, Princeton University

Leonard Wantchekon is Professor in the Politics department and associated faculty in the Economics department.  Prior to joining Princeton University, he was on the faculty of New York University (2001-2011), and Yale University (1995-2001). He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University (1995) and his M.A. in Economics from Laval University and University of British Columbia (1992). His research is broadly focused on Political and Economic development, particularly in Africa and his specific interests include topics such as democratization, clientelism and redistributive politics, resource curse, and long-term social impact of historical events.  He is the author of numerous publications in leading academic journals, including “The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa” (with Nathan Nunn), in the American Economic Review; “The Paradox of “Warlord” Democracy: A Theoretical Investigation,” in the American Political Science Review (2004); Clientelism and Voting Behavior: A Field Experiment in Benin, World Politics (2003) as well as “Electoral Competition under the Threat of Political Unrest” (with Matthew Ellman) in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (2000). Professor Wantchekon is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Executive Committee of the Council for International Teaching and Research at Princeton. He served as the Secretary of the American Political Science Association (2008-2009) and on the Ibrahim Index Technical Committee (2009-2013).  Finally, he is a core partner director at the Afrobarometer Network and the founder the Africa School of Economics (ASE) set to open in Benin in 2014.

LUIS BENVENISTE

Director, Education Global Practice

Luis Benveniste is the Director for the Education Global Practice of the World Bank Group. He was a co-author of the World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development. Luis Benveniste’s research interests focus on teacher policies and student assessment practices. Other publications include Teaching in Cambodia (2008), with J. Marshall and M. Araujo, Teaching in Lao PDR (2008), with J. Marshall and L. Santibaez, "The political structuration of assessment: Negotiating State power and legitimacy," in A.H. Halsey, P. Brown, H. Lauder & J. Dillabough (eds.), Education: Globalisation and Social Change (2006) and All Else Equal (2003), with M. Carnoy and R. Rothstein--a book on accountability and the organization of public and private schools in the U.S. Luis has also previously worked on a wide variety of World Bank education projects in Africa and East Asia and Pacific. He received a B.A. Magna Cum Laude in Psychology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in International Comparative Education from Stanford University.

CAMILLA ROCCA

Mo Ibrahim Foundation

Senior Research Analyst

Camilla Rocca is Senior Research Analyst at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, where she leads on the Foundation’s research agenda and publications on African governance. Her main interest is the African political, economic and social landscape, with a focus on the nexus between fragility, development and state-society relations. She has worked extensively on these issues as independent analyst as well as political officer for the European Union based in Central Africa. With a background in International Relations, she holds two MAs from the College of Europe and the University of Padua, and professional certifications including in political analysis and mediation.

ORY OKOLLOH

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Olusoji O. Adeyi

World Bank Group

Director HNP Global Practice

Olusoji Adeyi, MD, MBA, DrPH, is the Director of the Health, Nutrition, and Population Global Practice at the World Bank Group. He has extensive leadership experience across the world in health systems development and public health at the global, regional, and country levels. He was the founding Director of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm) at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Dr. Adeyi has led a number of initiatives on global public health policies and strategies, and analyses of the integration of health systems and priority health interventions. He has authored research papers and books on health systems, service delivery, quality of care, maternal health, health financing, disease control, and development assistance for health. Dr. Adeyi is a member of the Lancet Commission on Pollution, Health, and Development, and the Lancet Commission on High Quality Health Systems

Laura Savage

Department for International Development

Education Adviser

Laura Savage is an education adviser at the UK’s Department for International Development, where she leads on evidence on education systems. She has worked over the past 15 years to strengthen the effectiveness of education policies, particularly in Bangladesh and Malawi. Her academic background is in the politics of aid to education, and her PhD focused on education sector reforms in Malawi.