Robert Taliercio O'Brien, a U.S. national, is the Regional Director in the Latin America and Caribbean region for the Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions (EFI) department, which comprises nearly 200 professionals and delivered US$3.9 billion in new lending operations to clients last year. He was previously a Practice Manager for the Latin America and Caribbean region in the Governance Global Practice (GGP). Prior to that, he was the Practice Manager of the Public Sector Group in East Asia and Pacific, a region where he has earlier served as Lead Economist. In 20 years at the World Bank, he has served as senior country economist and public sector specialist in the East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, and the Africa regions. He has designed and led investment and development policy operations as well as public expenditure reviews and public financial management diagnostics for a range of clients, including Armenia, Cambodia, China, Malaysia, and Myanmar. He has received service awards from the Ministers of Finance of the Republic of Korea and the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Taliercio was a Lecturer in Public Finance at the Harvard Institute for International Development and a Manager for HIID’s Program on Investment Appraisal and Management. He also served as a visiting professor at the Bolivian Catholic University. He has written on public finance policy and administration in academic journals, books, and development publications.
Dr. Taliercio holds a PhD and a MPP in public policy from Harvard University, an AM in Latin American Studies from Stanford University, and an AB in public and international affairs from Princeton University.