WASHINGTON, July 1, 2010 –World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick today announced the appointments of three new Vice Presidents to mark the start of the 2011 fiscal year: Inger Andersen as VP of the Sustainable Development Network; Joachim von Amsberg as VP Operations Policy and Country Services and Caroline Anstey as VP External Affairs. The appointments come in the wake of a record lending year for the World Bank and are effective today.
Inger Andersen, a Danish national, moves into her new role from the position of Sustainable Development Network’s Sector Director in the Africa Region, which she took up in 2008. Since Andersen joined the Bank in 2001, she has worked in a number of capacities including Sector Manager Water and Urban Development in Africa; Director for the Water, Agriculture and Social Development Department in the Middle East and North Africa Region; and Director of Sustainable Development in the Middle East and North Africa Region.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Andersen worked at the United Nations in New York for 12 years, including in the UNDPs Regional Bureau of Arab States and the United Nations Drought and Desertification Office. While at the UN she also served on the UN’s three member delegation to the Middle East Multilateral Peace Talks.
“Inger’s impressive track record of results on the ground, her ability to manage across different but related topics, and her reach across regions, will help us build on a very strong Sustainable Development network,” said Zoellick.
Andersen received her Master’s Degree in Development Economic and African Politics from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies.
Joachim von Amsberg, a German national, has been the Country Director for Indonesia in the East Asia and Pacific Vice Presidency in the past three years. Since he joined the World Bank in 1993, he has worked on a number of different areas including: Lead Economist and Sector Leader for Brazil, Latin America and the Caribbean Region and Country Director for the Philippines.
“Joachim brings an in-depth knowledge of operations in the field, a strong results focus, and energy and creativity to this important post,” said Zoellick. “These will be critical as we move to implement our internal reform agenda and consider the next steps we need to take to be faster and more flexible, while safeguarding and advancing the highest standards.”
Von Amsberg holds a Ph.D. in Finance and Economic Policy from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the Technische Universitaet Berlin, Germany; and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of British Columbia.
Caroline Anstey, a U.K. national, has been World Bank Group Chief of Staff since 2007. Since she joined the Bank in 1995, she held a number of positions including Country Director for the Caribbean in LAC; Director of Media Relations and Chief Bank Spokesperson in EXT; and Speechwriter and Assistant to former President James D. Wolfensohn.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Anstey worked as a Senior Producer then Editor running BBC Radio’s flagship current affairs program Analysis. Before that, she worked for two years in the British House of Commons.
“Caroline brings a rare combination of strategic, communications, media and political economy skills as well as first-hand experience of Bank operations and corporate issues to her new role,” said Zoellick. “Having served the institution for the last two and a half years as an invaluable Chief of Staff and excellent counselor to me, she will now bring her operational and leadership experience and excellence to the challenges we face of opening the Bank Group to the world and better serving all our clients.”
Caroline holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and was awarded a Gwilym Gibbon Prize Research Fellowship at Nuffield College, Oxford, for post doctoral research.
The new appointments come as the institution wraps up the largest fiscal year in its history. During the 2010 Financial Year the Bank Group committed more than $72 billion dollars to help promote economic growth, overcome poverty, and promote private enterprise, with record lending in education, health, nutrition, population, and infrastructure providing much-needed assistance to crisis-hit economies.
