Ms. Lawrence is the Leader of the Railways Community of Practice at the World Bank and involved in the Bank’s technical assistance and lending programs in China and India. Ms. Lawrence is leading the team structuring the Railways of India Development Fund, a US$ 5 billion commercial infrastructure fund for rail infrastructure in India. She has over 30 years of experience in the railway sector, with extensive knowledge in railway restructuring, railway finance and transport regulation. Ms. Lawrence lead the development of the World Bank’s resource on railway reform: “Railway Reform: A Toolkit for Improving Rail Sector Performance”.

Before joining the World Bank, Ms. Lawrence was a Managing Director of Harral Winner Thompson Sharp Lawrence, Inc., where she prepared business, restructuring and financing plans for railways worldwide and advised private sector investors on over US$8 billion in structured lease financing of transit rolling stock and infrastructure.

Ms. Lawrence worked ten years on regulatory and antitrust issues, during a period of deregulation and commercialization in the US rail industry. She has developed costing and pricing systems for railways in the US, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Brazil and financial models/business plans for railways worldwide.

Ms. Lawrence has a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University and an M.B.A in Finance and Transportation Management from Northwestern University.