The African Development Bank is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Frannie Leautier as the Senior Vice-President of the African Development Bank Group effective on 9th May, 2016.
A citizen of Tanzania, Dr. Frannie Leautier is currently Chairperson and Co-Founding Partner of Mkopa Private Equity Fund, which is focused on private equity investments in small and medium size enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr. Frannie Leautier is a globally respected development expert with over 25 years of professional experience and a former Vice President of the World Bank Group. She brings extensive Africa and global experience from both public and private sectors, including strong operations’ management experience in complex multilateral institutions. She is known for being results-oriented and a driver for efficiency, effectiveness and accountability.
She graduated with a PhD in infrastructure systems from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1990. She also earned her Masters degree in Transportation from MIT in 1986. She joined the World Bank in 1992-1994 as Transport Economist in the Infrastructure Division, Latin American Region, where she received an award for excellence in the design of infrastructure projects in Peru. She was Research Economist, Development Economics of the World Bank Group from 1994-1995. She was promoted to senior economist, Infrastructure Division of the South Asia Division of the World Bank and from 1995-1997 worked extensively in six Asian countries where she helped to build a cohesive team to deliver on infrastructure projects for the World Bank.
She served as Senior Director, Infrastructure, for the Asia Division of the World Bank, from 1997-1999. She was recognized for innovative projects for water and energy sectors and helped to consolidate the investments of the World Bank in the transport sector. She won the “Good Manager Award” for excellence in management.
Dr. Leautier was appointed the Chief of Staff and Director of the Office of the President of the World Bank Group from 2000-2001. She was later appointed as Vice President for the World Bank Group and Head of the World Bank Institute from 2001-2007. She was credited for helping to restructure the World Bank’s Institute for greater innovativeness, efficiency and delivery, for which she was given an award for Recognition of Extraordinary Work in 2003 by the World Bank, and a Presidential Award for Excellence in 2002 for her contributions to work in Latin America.
From 2007-2013, she was appointed a Distinguished Professor of Leadership in a Globalized World, Sciences Po, Paris, where she taught Masters’ courses in international management and leadership.
Dr. Leautier comes with extensive experience in the private sector and has worked as Managing Partner of The Fezembat Group from 2007-2009, a company that provided risk management and support advisory services for top leadership of companies investing in mining, infrastructure and energy in developing and emerging markets.
She was appointed Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation from 2009-2013, where she is credited with raising and revamping the profile, governance, accountability, efficiency and delivery of the institution. As a result of her hard fought reforms, contributions by African governments increased by more than five times during her tenure, as well as significant increase in funding from non-regional donors. She brings experience, tenacity and resilience needed to deliver change and transformation.
Dr. Leautier is globally respected in development circles. She has served as Board member of several organizations, including Women’s World Banking, Institute for Security Studies, African Economic Research Consortium, International Potato Institute, Nelson Mandela Institution for Science and Technology and the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Africa (2013-2014) and the African Institute of Governing with Integrity.
Dr. Leautier is passionate about development and brings experience in public and private sectors and a track record of working to drive successful organizational change. The New African Magazine listed her among the 100 most influential persons in Africa from 2011-2013. She is fluent in English and French, with advanced level in Spanish and some spoken Arabic.
The President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said of the appointment, “I am delighted that Dr. Frannie Leautier will be joining the Bank as Senior Vice President. She is a globally respected development expert, with extensive and deep knowledge of Africa. She brings strong experience in operations management, capacity building and the private sector. As one of Africa’s top development experts, she will help lead our efforts on improving the overall operational effectiveness of the Bank to drive greater developmental impacts.”