Bloggers
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Sameer Vasta is a storyteller and web junkie who has spent the past five years helping companies and organizations tell their stories and engage their communities through new and emerging media. He loves to laugh.
Sameer currently works as the social media strategist for the World Bank.
Angie Gentile is Senior Managing Editor of www.worldbank.org. Since joining the World Bank in 1993, she has worked on full-spectrum communications ranging from web to print to media, covering all sectors and regions of the world. Angie has authored or co-authored thousands of web features, news articles and reports during her tenure, managed the 2007 overhaul of www.miga.org, and is currently heading a team that is guiding the editorial and content reform of www.worldbank.org. Prior to joining the Bank, Angie backpacked around the world and worked on Latino advocacy issues in the US.
Brad Simmons is a multimedia tech guru whose work bridges the fields of web, video and interactive. Brad is passionate using multimedia to share knowledge and enact progress.
James Bond, a French national, joined the World Bank Group in 1986. He was appointed Chief Operating Officer of MIGA in March 2008.
James has served in numerous managerial positions at the World Bank. Prior to joining MIGA in 2008, James was the Bank’s Country Director for several francophone countries in West Africa. During this time, the World Bank provided assistance to Côte d´Ivoire in bringing that country’s internal conflict to an end, and financed the demobilization of combatants, emergency reconstruction, and a major sovereign debt workout. James was also based in Antananarivo, Madagascar, as the Country Director covering the countries of the Indian Ocean. Before this, he was Director of Agriculture, Rural Development, Environment and Social Development for the Africa Region, as well as Director of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications for the entire World Bank.
At the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, James was Director of the Mining Department, and was on the Board of the Escondida copper development in Chile. During his tenure a number of important mining projects were financed by IFC, including the privatization of the copper industry in Zambia.
Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Mr. Bond spent ten years with Total, the French oil and gas company, and also worked for Goldfields, a South African mining company. Mr. Bond holds a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, a graduate degree in energy economics and finance from the French engineering school ENSPM, and a doctorate in economics from the University of Pantheon-Sorbonne in Paris.
Since joining the World Bank in 2003, Nina has worked as a news associate, web writer and editor. While fielding journalists’ questions, monitoring media reporting and writing web features, Nina and a colleague created an online site on development for kids. This effort eventually evolved in Youthink!, the Bank’s website for youth. Nina was instrumental in conceptualizing the site, and then served as its first writer, editor and coordinator for the next two years. Then following a stint as a web editor for the Bank’s South Asia region, Nina became the homepage editor responsible for homepage content and editorial.
Ximena es una entusiasta de las nuevas tecnologías y la comunicación. Su primer encuentro con el correo electrónico fue en 1995 cuando recién se graduaba de periodista en la Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) en Managua, Nicaragua, y desde entonces no ha parado de descubrir, probar y usar todas las herramientas en línea disponibles para alcanzar sus metas. Actualmente, coordina el sitio web del Banco Mundial en español www.bancomundial.org y apuesta por una web más simple, más directa y más eficaz al servicio de la misión de la institución y de los usuarios latinos e hispanos. Cuando no está tecleando se le puede encontrar practicando yoga o cocinando comida vegetariana.
Ximena is a communications technology enthusiast. Ever since her first exposure to email in 1995, as a journalism student at the Universidad Centroamericana in Managua, Nicaragua, she has never stopped seeking out and trying the newest tools of the trade. As the coordinator of the World Bank’s Spanish-language website www.bancomundial.org, Ximena’s goal is to support the Bank’s mission by making the web experience simple and effective for Latin American and Hispanic users. When she is not at the keyboard she can be found practicing yoga or cooking vegetarian food.
En su rol de editor web para América Latina y el Caribe, Carlos es responsable por la cobertura de internet de las operaciones del Banco Mundial en más de 20 sitios bilingües de nuestra región, y lidera el cada vez más frecuente diálogo con los usuarios de la web del Banco, a través de blogs y redes sociales. Antes de trabajar para el Banco Mundial, Carlos se desempeñó durante más de 10 años como editor multimedios cubriendo negocios latinoamericanos.
In his role as Regional Web Editor for the Latin America and Caribbean Region, Carlos oversees over 20 bilingual sites covering the World Bank's wide-ranging operations in the region, and leads efforts to increasingly engage the Bank's web users in interactions such as blogs and other social media tools. Prior to joining the Bank, Carlos has been a multimedia editor covering Latin America's business community for more than 10 years.
Antes de asumir su cargo como economista en jefe de la región, Augusto de la Torre se desempeñó como asesor senior en temas financieros para América Latina y el Caribe. Desde su incorporación al Banco en octubre de 1997, ha sido responsable por un número importante de publicaciones sobre un amplio abanico de temas macroeconómicos y de desarrollo financiero. Previamente fue presidente del Banco Central del Ecuador y se desempeñó como economista del Fondo Monetario Internacional.
Before his appointment as the region’s chief economist, Augusto de la Torre was a senior advisor responsible for financial matters in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since joining the Bank in October 1997, he has published extensively on a broad range of macroeconomic and financial development topics. Prior to joining the Bank Augusto was president of Ecuador’s Central Bank and an International Monetary Fund economist.
Durante sus 20 años de trayectoria como experto en desarrollo internacional, Marcelo Giugale ha trabajado en las regiones de Medio Oriente, Europa Oriental, Asia central y América Latina. Ha publicado profusamente sobre política económica, finanzas, economía del desarrollo, negocios, agricultura y econometría aplicada.
Marcelo Giugale’s 20 years of experience as an international development leader span the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America. He has published widely on economic policy, finance, development economics, business, agriculture, and applied econometrics.
Sergio supervisa las comunicaciones del Banco Mundial en América Latina y el Caribe. Es el fundador de la Alianza COM+, una asociación de organizaciones internacionales del Banco y profesionales de la comunicación. Sergio tiene vasta experiencia en países en desarrollo, tanto en el ejercicio mismo del periodismo como también en calidad de asesor de organizaciones internacionales.
Sergio Jellinek oversees communications for Latin America and the Caribbean. He is a founder of the COM+ Alliance, a partnership of international organizations and communications professionals. He has extensive experience in developing countries, both as a working journalistand as an adviser to international organizations.
Keith Hansen is the World Bank Sector Manager for Health in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Ketih Hansen's videoblog posts:
H1N1 in Latin America, an overview
H1N1 and the economy
H1N1 and the World Bank
William Byrd is currently serving in the World Bank’s Headquarters in Washington, DC as Economic Adviser in the Fragile and Conflict Affected Countries Group. Previously he was Adviser in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit of the South Asia Region of the Bank. Until late 2006 he was the Bank’s Senior Economic Adviser based in Kabul, Afghanistan. There he was responsible for helping develop the World Bank’s strategy for support to Afghanistan’s reconstruction effort and established the World Bank's office in Kabul.
William Byrd has been in the World Bank for more than 20 years. He has had a number of multi-year assignments based in developing countries including India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
William Byrd's publications include six books on China. other books, and numerous articles, among them several papers on Afghanistan, as well as a number of World Bank reports. He has been responsible for reports on Afghanistan’s Economic Development, Public Finance Management, Economic Cooperation in the Wider Central Asia Region, and Afghanistan’s Drug Industry, as well as papers on responding to Afghanistan’s development challenge. More recently he co-authored a joint report of the World Bank and the UK’s Department for International Development on “Afghanistan: Economic Incentives and Development Initiatives to Reduce Opium Production”, and also a Bank report on “Fighting Corruption in Afghanistan: Summaries of Vulnerabilities to Corruption Assessments”.
William Byrd has a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and an MA in East Asian Regional Studies from the same institution.
Marwan Muasher, a Jordanian national, joined the World Bank as Senior Vice President of External Affairs on March 16, 2007, from his most recent position at the Senate of Jordan. His career has spanned the areas of development, diplomacy, civil society, and communications.
Mr. Muasher began his career as a journalist for the Jordan Times, then served from 1985 to 1990 at the Ministry of Planning and later as press advisor to the Prime Minister. He subsequently served as Director for the Jordan Information Bureau in Washington, building understanding and support in Congress, the press, and civil society.
In 1995, Mr. Muasher opened Jordan's first embassy in Israel, and in 1996 became Minister of Information and the government’s spokesperson. From 1997 to 2002, he served in Washington again as Ambassador, negotiating the first free trade agreement between the United States and an Arab nation. He then returned to Jordan to serve as Foreign Minister, where he was deeply involved in the peace process. In 2004 he became Deputy Prime Minister responsible for Reform and Government Performance, and led the effort to produce a ten-year Development Strategy that included, among other topics, major recommendations on political and economic reform, financial services, fiscal reforms, employment, education, and training.
Mr. Muasher holds a PhD in Computer Engineering from Purdue University.
Derek Warren is a Senior Communications Officer with the London office of the World Bank.
Alastair McKechnie has worked for the past twenty seven years in various positions, his previous position being Country Director for Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Maldives in the South Asia Region.
Other positions include Operations Director for the South Asia Region, where in addition to his work on Afghanistan, he assisted the Vice President for the region and oversaw the Bank’s operations in South Asia; Energy Sector Director South Asia region, responsible for the Bank’s energy operations in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; Division Chief for Energy, Infrastructure and Private-Sector Development in the Mashreq, Egypt and Iran Department in the Middle East/North Africa region. After the Asian tsunami disaster in 2004, he coordinated the World Bank’s response to the South Asia region.
Mr. McKechnie is Director, Fragile and Conflict-Affected Countries Group, where he provides leadership and support for the Bank’s work on the fragile and conflict-affected areas, including developing and promoting an agenda for strategic knowledge and research; establishing key partnerships across institutions involved in fragile states; and leading institutional reforms affecting fragile states, including the implementation of the new rapid response policy and procedures and reform to organizational and human resource systems.
Alastair McKechnie's videoblog posts:
Fragility, Conflict, and Crisis
Fragile states facing challenges
Fragile states and the World Bank
Can Kevenk is a communications consultant with the World Bank Office of the Publisher.
Climate change is expected to hit developing countries the hardest. Its effects—higher temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, rising sea levels, and more frequent weather-related disasters—pose risks for agriculture, food, and water supplies.