Michael John Webster

Michael “Mike” Webster is the World Bank's Water Practice Manager for the East Asia and Pacific Region, providing strategic leadership for lending, technical assistance, and partnerships across water supply, sanitation, irrigation, and water resources management.  In this role, he supports client governments to advance water security across Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Island countries, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

Prior to this, Mike served as Program Manager of 2030 Water Resources Group (WRG), a multi-donor trust fund hosted by the World Bank Group, where he led global efforts to strengthen public-private collaboration and advance reforms, partnerships, innovative solutions, and investment opportunities to address water security challenges and support sustainable development.​‌

Before joining WRG, Mike served as the Executive Director of the Water and Sanitation Directorate for the City of Cape Town, South Africa, where he led the City’s response to the 2015-17 drought by implementing a comprehensive water security strategy. Under Mike’s leadership, the Directorate became the first utility in Africa to join the Leading Utilities of the World.

Prior to his role in Cape Town, Mike worked for the World Bank for 16 years as a water and sanitation specialist, based in Washington, DC, New Delhi, and Harare. He joined the World Bank through the Young Professionals Program and holds a degree in civil engineering from the University of Cape Town, an MSc in engineering from Loughborough University, and a master's in public policy from Princeton University.