World Development Report 2022 Team Members

Leora Klapper is a Lead Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Research Team of the Development Research Group at the World Bank. Her publications focus on corporate and household finance, banking, entrepreneurship, and risk management. Her current research studies the impact of digital financial services, especially for women. She is a founder of the Global Findex database, which measures how adults around the world save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Previously, she worked at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Salomon Smith Barney. She holds a Ph.D. in Financial Economics from New York University Stern School of Business.

Martin Kanz is a Senior Economist in the finance team of the Development Research Group. His research focuses on banking, behavioral economics, and the political economy of the credit market. Martin has led numerous field experiments and impact evaluations on financial sector topics, primarily in India and Southeast Asia. His research has appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Finance, and other leading academic publications. Martin received his A.B. in Economics from Harvard University, his M.Sc. in Development Economics from Oxford, and his Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Davida Connon is the WDR Manager and a Private Sector Development Specialist. A lawyer by training, Davida joined the World Bank in 2014, leading the development of legal indicators and surveys to assess countries’ agribusiness environments. More recently, Davida was a writer and contributor to WDRs 2019, 2020, and 2021, focusing on competition and tax in digital markets, global value chains, and data governance. Davida also works regularly with the Global Competition Policy team on matters relating to state-owned enterprises and competitive neutrality, product market regulation, and digital markets. Prior to joining the World Bank, Davida was an international trade attorney in Geneva and Washington, DC, and completed her studies at the University of Glasgow and Harvard University.

Davide S. Mare is the WDR Data Manager and a Senior Economist at the World Bank. Davide also holds an appointment as an Honorary Lecturer with the University of Edinburgh Business School. His research focuses broadly on the role of the financial sector for firm performance, covering topics such as the design of prudential regulation for the stability of the banking sector, financing the recovery after natural disasters, and the role of a firm financial structure for innovation and productivity. Before joining the World Bank, Davide was an Assistant Professor in Business Economics at the University of Edinburgh Business School and a financial consultant for large European banks. His work has appeared in numerous peer-reviewed academic journals and reports, such as the British Journal of Management, the European Journal of Operational Research, the Journal of Financial Stability, and the Global Financial Development Report 2019-2020.

Momina Aijazuddin is IFC’s Global Head of Microfinance/ Financial Inclusion and works also as Principal Investment Officer in IFC's Financial Institution Group (FIG). 

Momina covers IFC’s microfinance investment and advisory activities globally, which exceeds cumulative investments of US$6 billion worldwide with over 300 MFIs, in addition to advisory services worth $63.7 million in 68 projects across 30 countries.  This includes oversight of the work in the Responsible Forum (which IFC manages for the GPFI/ G20) and leading projects in digital transformation for MSME focused Banks and MFIs. She is leading IFC’s efforts to scale up private sector commitments with strategic partners in the digital finance, microfinance and fintech space, committed to achieving the World Bank Group’s Universal Financial Access by 2020.  She was also a core member of the drafting team for the G20 Digital Financial Inclusion Principles. She manages the IFC Boulder strategic partnership and hosts the training for Boulder- IFC Strategic Leadership in Microfinance which has trained almost 350 leaders in the financial inclusion space.

Momina brings over two decades of investment transaction experience in financial services, microfinance and manufacturing sectors in over 60 countries across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, MENA and LAC regions. She has spent the last four years heavily engaged with IFC’s financial inclusion efforts in China; including with leading banks and MFIs in digital transformation and fintech players. She was recognized as Global 100 top 100 women in 2019 FINTECH by Lattice80, a fintech hub. She holds a MSC (Econ) with Distinction from London School of Economics.

Alexandru Cojocaru is a senior economist with the Global Unit of the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice, where he co-leads the Systematic Country Diagnostic central support team. His research focuses primarily on issues related to poverty, inequality, and subjective well-being. Previously, he led the World Bank’s engagement on poverty and equity in a number of countries in the Europe and Central Asia Region, including Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, and Ukraine. Alexandru is a co-author of Fair Progress: Economic Mobility across Generations around the World (World Bank, 2018) and Reversals of Fortune: Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report 2020 (World Bank, 2020). His research has also been published in academic journals including the Journal of Comparative Economics and the European Journal of Political Economy. Alexandru holds a master’s degree from Georgetown University and a PhD from the University of Maryland.

Miquel Dijkman is a Lead Financial Sector Specialist in the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice at the World Bank Group for the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. He is currently program manager of the Vienna-based Financial Sector Advisory Center (FinSAC), which is part of the World Bank’s Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice. FinSAC supports select client countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia in building more resilient financial sectors through the provision of bilateral technical assistance, knowledge events and analytical work. He joined the World Bank in 2009 and has worked on a broad range of financial stability-related topics in client countries worldwide. He has contributed to and led technical assistance missions covering banking supervision, regulation and legislation, the financial sector safety net and crisis preparedness, non-performing loan resolution and systemic risk analysis. He has participated in twelve Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAPs), including the 2017 China FSAP Update, which he led on behalf of the World Bank. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked at Central Bank of the Netherlands, and as a national central bank expert at the European Central Bank. He holds graduate degrees from Radboud University in international economics and development studies.

Kathryn Holston is an Economist in the Office of the Vice President of Development Economics and World Bank Group Chief Economist. She is also a PhD Candidate in Economics and a Stone PhD Scholar in Inequality and Wealth Concentration at Harvard University. Her work focuses on financial fragility during the COVID-19 crisis and on banking crises throughout history. Her research interests include monetary policy and central bank independence and governance. She previously worked in the Federal Reserve Board’s Monetary Studies Section. Her work on estimating the natural rate of interest for advanced economies has been widely cited. Kathryn holds a MA in Economics from Harvard University and a BS in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh.

Martin Holtmann is the Global Sector Manager for Financial Inclusion, MSME Finance, and Digital Finance in IFC’s Financial Institutions Group. In addition, he coordinates FIG’s Advisory Services as global manager. MSME finance constitutes a cornerstone of IFC’s investment activities and development impact: At the close of calendar year 2019, 416 of IFC’s clients reported over 60 million outstanding MSME loans, for over $482 billion. Before joining IFC as Chief Microfinance Specialist in 2007, Martin was Lead Financial Specialist at CGAP and managed the CGAP Financial Technology Program. Previously, he worked as advisor and managing director of a consulting firm specializing in MSME finance and bank management services. This included 12 years as resident advisor in MSME banks and greenfield institutions in East Africa, Latin America, and Russia. Martin has been on the faculty of the Boulder Microfinance Training Program since 1996 and taught courses on personnel and organizational economics at Trier University (Germany). He is a graduate of the L.B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Victoria, B.C., Canada, and holds degrees from Trier University (Economics) and Harvard University (Public Administration).

Harry Lawless is a consultant with the Insolvency and Debt Resolution team of the World Bank Group (WBG). In this role Harry has contributed to the provision of research and advice for governments on insolvency and debt resolution reforms in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to joining the WBG in 2021, Harry worked in legal practice at the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright Australia. Harry is presently undertaking Masters-level study in law and policy at the University of Sydney and holds a Bachelors of Arts/Law (Hons) from the Australian National University.

In his current role at the IFC, Motelle is responsible for, inter alia, assessment and monitoring of development impact of investment projects covering portfolios in LAC, MENA and SA, developing frameworks and instruments for operationalizing IFC’s anticipated impact measurement and monitoring (AiMM) system, and undertaking relevant research on topical issues with a bearing on IFC portfolio performance. He possesses diverse experience in the financial sector spanning over 15 years. He started his career in Lesotho working for a local private commercial bank as a Treasury Dealer. He later joined the Central Bank of Lesotho as an economist sharpening his skills over subsequent years to become a Principal Economist. He was later appointed Director of Banking Supervision and Financial Stability where he was responsible for the design and implementation of micro-prudential regulatory policies and supervisory strategies, maintenance of financial integrity, surveillance of local and trans-border flows of capital, and design and implementation of macro-prudential policies and monitoring financial stability in Lesotho. Motelle holds a BA (Economics) from the National University of Lesotho, Mcom (Economics) from the University of Stellenbosch and a PhD (Finance) from the University of Cape Town – Graduate School of Business. He has taught Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics, Econometrics and Research methods courses to post-graduate students at the National University of Lesotho and the University of Cape Town.  

Selome provides technical assistance in the planning and production stages of the World Development Report 2022. She is a bilingual transaction specialist for the unit managing stipends, as well as consultant and firm contracts. She has previously worked on WDR2021. Selome was also Executive Assistant at the Global Partnership for Education. Having an excellent command in French, before joining the World Bank, she worked at the United Nations, International Telecommunications Unit (ITU), and African Union Commission.

Rita Ramalho is a Lead Economist in the World Bank Chief Economist Office. She is currently researching the links between sovereign debt and private sector development, in particular the importance of domestic arrears for firms. Previously she led the Global Indicators Group which housed data products such as Enterprise Surveys, Women Business and the Law, Enabling the Business of Agriculture, as well as other indicator projects. Prior to that she was the program manager of different units in the department including Enterprise Surveys and Women, Business and the Law. Enterprise Surveys provide the world's most comprehensive company-level data for emerging markets and developing economies. Enterprise Surveys data are available on more than 131,000 firms in over 139 countries. Rita Ramalho holds a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research has focused on the impact of regulation on economic variables such as growth, where she found that better business regulations can lead to more growth; the impact of regulations on female labor force participation, tax policy and entrepreneurship, labor regulations, and the size of the informal sector.

Matthew Saal is a Digital Finance Specialist in the IFC’s Financial Institutions Group. Matthew joined IFC in 2016, and covers digital financial services and financial infrastructure advisory work, partnerships, and investments in innovative financial services providers. During 2018-2019 Matthew was a World Bank Presidential Fellow seconded to the Finance Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice, focused on fintech policy and fintech for inclusion.

Prior to joining IFC, Matthew was Associate Director in the Local Currency and Capital Markets Development initiative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Prior to joining EBRD in 2010, Matthew worked in emerging markets finance, private equity, venture capital, strategy and business development, consulting, and international economics. Earlier in his career, Matthew was an economist at the International Monetary Fund advising central banks on banking supervision and regulation and monetary policy instruments, an analyst at Morgan Stanley creating automated equity valuation and portfolio optimization systems, and an instructor at Dalian Institute of Technology and St. Catherine’s College (Oxford) Kobe Institute. Matthew holds an A.B. in Chemistry from Princeton University and an M.Phil. in Economics from Oxford University (Balliol College), where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. He has published in the areas of fintech, banking, macroeconomic policy, financial systems structure, trade, and monetary policy instruments.

Beniamino Savonitto is an Economist in the Sector Economics and Development Impact department of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). His work focuses on the analysis, measurement, and evaluation of initiatives in microfinance, digital financial services and Fintech across the World Bank Group. Prior to joining IFC, Beniamino led the Financial Inclusion Program at Innovations for Poverty Action where he contributed to several research initiatives and publication on access to finance, technology, and behavioral economics. He holds an MA from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Political Science from Luiss University in Rome. 

Mahesh Uttamchandani is the Practice Manager for Financial Inclusion & Infrastructure in the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global Practice at the World Bank Group (WBG). In this role, he manages the WBG’s global work on Payment & Market Infrastructures and Responsible Financial Access Insolvency. 

Mahesh is the Chair of the International Committee on Credit Reporting (ICCR) and oversees the World Bank’s Insolvency & Creditor Rights Task Force.

Mahesh joined the World Bank’s Legal Vice Presidency in 2006 and has since held various positions at both the World Bank and IFC.  Prior to joining the WBG, Mahesh worked at the EBRD and as a commercial litigator at a leading Canadian law firm.

Mahesh is a member of the Executive Committee of CGAP, a board member of the legal journal, International Corporate Rescue, and a board member of INSOL International.  He has published and taught at the university level and lectured extensively in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Clemens Graf von Luckner is an Economist in the Office of the Vice President of Development Economics and World Bank Group Chief Economist. He is also a PhD Candidate in Economics at SciencesPo Paris. His research focuses on the economics of sovereign debt and default, and international finance. Inter alia, he investigates how global financial conditions affect the debt carrying capacity of sovereigns; and investigates the role of blockchain technology and crypto currencies in the global financial system. Clemens holds graduate degrees in Economics/Public Policy from Sciences Po and International Finance from Columbia University. He previously worked for JP Morgan and the Eurasia Group. 

Juan P. Farah Yacoub is currently an economist at the World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President’s office. His areas of focus are economic crises, international finance, and sovereign debt; covering these topics from law and economics lenses. Prior to the World Bank he worked at Goldman Sachs & Co., the International Monetary Fund, the International Finance Corporation, the Potomac Group, and Keystone Strategy. His experiences encompass structured finance, macroeconomic research, and sovereign advisory. At the IMF, he was a member of the team writing the Fiscal Monitor and worked on a broad research agenda on fiscal issues and resource-rich economies. At the Potomac Group, he served as a sovereign advisor on debt restructuring and macroeconomic policy to various sovereigns. His works have been published in the Journal of International Money and Finance, Harvard’s Latin America Policy Journal, and working papers of the IMF. Mr. Farah Yacoub is currently on a leave of absence from his graduate studies in law (Juris Doctor) and Development Economics (MPA/ID) at Harvard.