REPORT LAUNCH EVENT: Building Resilient Migration Systems in the Mediterranean Region

Merissa Khurma is the program director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center. She was a non-resident fellow in the International Security program at New America. She has leadership experience working in a range of development projects in the Middle East that focused on economic development, the Syrian refugee crisis, education, youth, gender development, and governance. Additionally, Khurma served as director of the Office of Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein (2010- 2013) and as press attaché and director of the Information Bureau at the Embassy of Jordan in Washington, D.C. (2003-2010). Khurma has a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, a Master of Science in international security and foreign policy from Georgetown University, and a Bachelor of Art in political science from McGill University. She is also a leadership development practitioner with a focus on Adaptive Leadership, Public Narrative & Community Organizing. Merissa speaks Arabic and French. 

Ferid Belhaj has been the World Bank’s Regional Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa since July 2018. He previously served as Chief of Staff to the President of the World Bank Group, and before that as Country Director for Mashreq countries (2012-2017, based in Beirut), Country Director for the Pacific (2009-2012, Sydney), Special Representative to the United Nations (2007-2010, New York), and Country Manager for Morocco (2002-2007, Rabat).  

A Tunisian national, Mr. Belhaj joined the Bank in 1996 as Senior Counsel in the Legal Department. He is a lawyer by training with degrees in international law and politics.

Anna Bjerde became World Bank Vice President for Europe and Central Asia on May 1st, 2020. In this position, Anna leads the World Bank’s strategic, analytical, operational and knowledge work in the region. Prior to this, Anna was Director of Strategy and Operations for the Middle East and North Africa region at the World Bank. Before that, she oversaw the Bank’s strategies, lending and analytical work for sustainable development, covering all six of the Bank’s regions. She also held a deputy Vice President role in the Europe and Central Asia region in 2014-15. Anna has over 25 years of experience working in development in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, East Asia, and South Asia. Anna is a recognized leader in economic development, with a specific interest in inclusive growth and sustainable development. Anna is an experienced leader and manager, with experience overseeing large and decentralized workforces and country offices, as well as forging strong bilateral and multilateral partnerships. Anna has a Master’s in Business and Economics from the University of Stockholm.

Mauro Testaverde is a senior economist in the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice of the World Bank. Mauro’s work focuses on labor markets, human capital development, and migration policies. His research on these topics has been published in economic journals including the Scandinavian Journal of Economics and The World Bank Economic Review. Since 2012, Mauro has been part of and led World Bank teams providing technical and analytical assistance in the areas of labor policy, migration, and refugee integration in Europe and Southeast Asia. Before joining the World Bank, Mauro was part of the migration research team at the University of Southampton (UK), where he earned a doctorate in economics and a master’s degree in econometrics.

Tito Boeri is full professor of economics at Bocconi University, Milan (where he had been also Dean for Research until fall 2014). He was Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics, where he is currently Senior Visiting Professor. From March 2015 to February 2019, he was President of the Italian Social Security administration (Inps). His field of research is labour economics, redistributive policies and political economics. He is Scientific Advisor of the Fondazione RODOLFO DEBENEDETTI (www.frdb.org), where he acted as Scientific Director since its inception in 1998 to 2015. He is research fellow at CEPR, CEP-LSE, IZA, Netspar and Igier-Bocconi. Before becoming president of INPS, he was columnist for La Repubblica and collaborated with some foreign newspapers such as Financial Times and Le Monde. He is the founder of the economic policy watchdog website www.lavoce.info, in the editorial board of www.voxeu.org, and the Scientific Director of the Festival of Economics in Trento. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Economics from New York University, Tito Boeri was senior economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 1987 to 1996. In this position, among other things, he coordinated all the work carried out by the OECD in the field of human resource policies in the central and eastern European economies in transition after 1990. He was also consultant to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, The European Commission, the International Labour Office, and the Italian Government. 

Karim El Aynaoui is the Executive President of the Policy Center for the New South, and Executive Vice-President of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Dean of its Faculty of Governance, Economics and Social Sciences. From 2005 to 2012, he worked at the Central Bank of Morocco (Bank Al-Maghrib) where he served as Director of Economics, Statistics and International Relations. He was also in charge of the Research Department and was a member of the cabinet of the Governor. Prior to joining Bank Al-Maghrib, Karim El Aynaoui worked for eight years at the World Bank, as an Economist within the Middle East, North Africa, and Africa regions.He has published books and journal articles on macroeconomic issues in developing countries. Karim El Aynaoui holds scientific and advisory positions in various institutions. He is a member of the Malabo-Montpellier Panel, the Scientific Council of the Moroccan Capital Market Authority, and the Strategic Advisory Board of the French Institute of International Relations. He is also a global member of the Trilateral Commission. In the past, he served as a member of the COP22 Scientific Committee.Karim El Aynaoui holds a PhD in economics from the University of Bordeaux, where he taught courses in statistics and economics for three years.

Elkhan Rahimov is the Deputy Region Director for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC). Before joining the IFRC, Mr. Rahimov worked at the Red Crescent Society of Azerbaijan, first joining the organization in 1999 as a volunteer, and promoted to various positions until 2003, when he was appointed as Secretary General. Mr. Rahimov was a member of the Development Commission of the IFRC between 2005 and 2007 and spent one year in Norway with the Norwegian Red Cross as an international youth delegate between 2002 and 2003.Mr. Rahimov was essential in the provision of IFRC support to National Societies in Southern Caucasus and in building the capacities of the Georgian Red Cross in response to consequences of the military conflict between 2008 and 2011 as IFRC Country Representative. Prior to his current position as Deputy Regional Director which he has held since 2016, he was the Head of Country Cluster covering Turkey, Central Asia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine between 2014 and 2016 and Senior officer, National Societies Organizational development and Learning from 2012 to 2014. Between April 2019 and September 2020, Mr. Rahimov was acting Regional Director for IFRC Regional Office for Europe. He graduated from the Azerbaijan Economic University with a master’s degree. He has a Masters of Science Degree in Global Management, from Salford University and an Executive Certificate in Global Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.  

Elizabeth Collett is Special Adviser for Policy and Strategy to the Director General of the International Organisation for Migration in Geneva. Previously, she was founding Director of Migration Policy Institute Europe and Senior Advisor to MPI's Transatlantic Council on Migration. Ms. Collett has produced dozens of working papers, policy briefs, and memos focused on the future of EU immigration and asylum policy, as well as national-level policy developments.

Ms. Collett also served as a Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think tank, and was responsible for its migration program, which covered all aspects of European migration and integration policy. She has also worked in the Migration Research and Policy Department of the International Organization for Migration in Geneva and for the Institute for the Study of International Migration in Washington, DC. She also served as a Research Associate at the Centre for Migration Policy and Society, Oxford University (2011-13), and consulted for numerous governmental ministries and nongovernmental organizations, including foundations, nonprofits, and UN agencies.

Roberta Gatti is the Chief Economist of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region of the World Bank. In that role, she oversees analytical work to support the Bank’s operations and economic surveillance in countries in the region. In her previous capacity of Chief Economist for the Human Development practice group, she co-led the conceptualization and release of the World Bank Human Capital Index and oversaw the Service Delivery Indicators data initiative. Gatti joined the World Bank in 1998 as a Young Professional in the Macro unit of the Development Research Group. She has since led analytical agendas on growth, firm productivity, gender, social inclusion, and labor markets, including as the Global Lead for Labor policies.

Asli Demirguc-Kunt is the Chief Economist of the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank. Over her 30-year career in the World Bank, she has also served as the Director of Research, Director of Development Policy, and the Chief Economist of the Finance and Private Sector Development Network, conducting research and advising on financial and private sector development issues. The author of over 100 publications, she has published widely in academic journals and is among the most-cited researchers in the world. Her research has focused on the links between financial development, firm performance, and economic development. Banking and financial crises, financial regulation, access to financial services and inclusion, as well as SME finance and entrepreneurship are among her areas of research. She has also created the Global Financial Development Report series and Global Findex financial inclusion database.  
She has been the President of the International Atlantic Economic Society (2013-14) and Director of the Western Economic Association (2015-18) and serves on the editorial boards of professional journals. Prior to coming to the Bank, she was an Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Ohio State University.