Conference on Business Dynamism in Europe and Central Asia

Antonella Bassani is Vice President of the Europe and Central Asia Region at the World Bank. In this position, Antonella leads the World Bank's strategic, financing and knowledge work for this region. Antonella has held several senior leadership positions in the World Bank, including most recently as Vice President for Budget, Performance Review and Strategic Planning. Prior to that she was responsible for overseeing operations in two regions as Director for Strategy and Operations (East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa), providing leadership and support to regional teams in the delivery of high-quality strategies and operations, flexible and innovative financing, and knowledge services.

Ivailo Izvorski is the Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia. He assumed this position on December 1, 2022. After joining the World Bank in 2005 as a Senior Country Economist in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Sector Unit working on Bosnia and Herzegovina, he has since held various positions —including Lead Economist and Practice Manager in Europe and Central Asia, and his most recent assignment as Practice Manager for the Global Macro and Debt Analytics in the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment (MTI) Global Practice.  Ivailo is one of the coauthors of Diversified Development: Making the Most of Natural Resources in Eurasia. He has worked on countries in Europe, Central Asia, East Asia and the Pacific, and Africa at the World Bank, the Institute of International Finance, and the IMF. Ivailo holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University.

Indermit Gill is Chief Economist of the World Bank and Senior Vice President for Development Economics. Before starting this position on September 1, 2022, Gill served as the World Bank’s Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he helped shape the Bank’s response to the extraordinary series of shocks that have hit developing economies since 2020. Between 2016 and 2021, he was a professor of public policy at Duke University and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development program.

Gill led the World Bank's influential 2009 World Development Report on economic geography. His work includes introducing the concept of the “middle-income trap” to describe how countries stagnate after reaching a certain level of income. He has published extensively on key policy issues facing developing countries—among other things, sovereign debt vulnerabilities, green growth and natural-resource wealth, labor markets, and poverty and inequality.

Ufuk Akcigit is the Arnold C. Harberger Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining faculty in 2015, he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009. Akcigit is also a Research Professor at Halle Institute for Economic Research, a Senior Research Fellow at Brookings Institute, an elected Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Distinguished Research Fellow at Koc University. As a macroeconomist, his research centers on economic growth, technological creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, productivity, and firm dynamics. His research has been repeatedly published in the top economics journals, cited by numerous policy reports and the popular media. 

Mr Asad Alam is the Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia for the Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI) Vice Presidency of the World Bank. In this position, he is responsible for the design, development, and delivery of EFI’s country-focused programs. Prior to this, Mr Alam served as the Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa for the Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI) Vice Presidency of the World Bank. Mr. Alam has served as the Chief of Staff to the President of the World Bank Group. He has earlier also served in various positions including as Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, Country Director for Southern Africa, Country Director for the South Caucuses, Sector Manager in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and Country Economist in various countries. Mr Alam joined the Young Professional in 1993.

Leonardo Iacovone is a Lead Economist, in the Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation Global Practice, Europe and Central Asia. Leonardo has worked in the Development Research Group, the Financial and Private Sector Development Unit of the Africa Region, and the Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Global Practice. Leonardo is also Adjoint Professor of Economics at Hertie School, a Research Affiliate with IPA SMEs Initiative and Affiliated Researcher with JPAL. His research has been published in journals such as  Review of Economic Studies, Economic Journal, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of International Economics, World Development, World Bank Economic Review, and received important recognitions such as the 2009 Paul Geroski Price for the most significant policy contribution awarded to top young economists by the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics.

Mariana Iootty is a Senior Economist in the Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation Global Practice, for Europe and Central Asia. Mariana has been at the World Bank for more than 10 years, during which time she led analytical, advisory and lending projects on competition-enhancement policies, productivity growth, trade competitiveness, innovation financing and regulatory impact assessment in several countries in Eastern Europe, Latin America and East Asia Pacific regions. Her main area of research is microeconomic analysis of economic development and firm performance.  Prior to joining the Bank, Mariana was a tenured assistant professor of econometrics and microeconomic theory in Brazil, and a visiting fellow in the University of Reading, UK and London Business School, UK.