Sheila Jagannathan is a lifelong learner and the Head of the Open Learning Campus at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. She serves as the organization’s focal point on digital learning and issues at the intersection of technology use and education in emerging countries. She is an internationally recognized thought leader, advisor, author, and forward-thinking senior leader with over 35 years of experience in leading capability building, human capital development, and transformation change across public and private organizations. She has been responsible for designing and implementing world-class solutions in challenging global environments, resulting in performance and productivity improvements. Sheila also provides policy advice and technical assistance to World Bank country-level capacity building programs (both government and training centers of excellence seeking to introduce technologies in their educational systems) in East Asia, China, the Middle East and North Africa, Africa, and South Asia. Her specialties include: skilling & the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 60-year curricula, workforce education, designing corporate universities, talent management, MOOCs, experiential pedagogy, online/hybrid strategies, immersive learning (AR/VR), use of disruptive (AI/MI, IoT, Blockchain, 5G) technologies in education, data analytics, LXPs, LMS, and learning ecosystems.
She regularly writes articles for various peer-reviewed publications and journals and has published a book titled Closing the skills gap with sustainable digital learning by Francis Taylor publications (New York and Oxford) in June 2021. She is on the advisory board and planning committees of major professional associations of learning such as the Canadian Foreign Service Institute, Global Distance Learning Network, Indian National Skills Development Council, George Mason University, E-learning Africa, (Annual International Conference for developing E-learning capacities in Africa), International Conference on E-learning (ICEL), Skills Councils, UNSDG-Learn, and UNICEF.