Michal Rutkowski is the Global Director for Social Protection and Jobs – overseeing the World Bank Global Practice responsible for protecting poor and vulnerable from shocks through improving their job opportunities, earning capacity, and social insurance and social assistance (safety net) coverage. Until July 2016, he was the Director for Multilateral Organizations, and prior to that the Country Director for the Russian Federation and the Resident Representative in Moscow for three years.   In the period 2004-12, he was Sector Director for Human Development in the Middle East and North Africa and then South Asia regions of the World Bank. Before 1996, after a brief period of work on Africa and China, Mr. Rutkowski worked extensively on social insurance and labor market issues in transition economies and as a country economist for Russia and after taking a leave from the Bank, returned as Sector Manager for social protection between 1998-2004, where he led a team of professionals working on pensions, labor market and social assistance reforms in 28 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union, as well as in Turkey. During his leave from the World Bank in the period 1996-98 he helped design and implement the new Polish pension system while serving as the Director of the Office for Social Security Reform.  He also taught at the Institute of Economic Policy at the Warsaw School of Economics.

Mr. Rutkowski’s published work covers among others, issues on labor markets and social security. He was a core team member of the 2015 World Development Report “Workers in an Integrated World”- the World Bank’s annual flagship research publication. Mr. Rutkowski holds an M.Sc. and Ph.D from Warsaw School of Economics and finished his post-graduate studies at the London School of Economics. He also graduated from the Executive Development program at the Harvard Business School in 1999, and from the Leadership for Collective Intelligence program run by Dialogos in 2010.

Dilip Ratha is head of KNOMAD and lead economist, Migration and Remittances, Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank. He is a thought leader on migration, remittances, and innovative financing for development, including diaspora bonds, future-flow securitization, and shadow sovereign credit ratings.

He was an invited TEDGlobal speaker in 2014 – his TED talk, with over 1.45 million views, has inspired many start-ups. He is the Founder of KNOMAD, Migrating out of Poverty Research Program Consortium, and African Institute of Remittances. Prior to the World Bank, he has worked at Credit Agricole Indosuez W.I. Carr Securities (Hong Kong and Singapore), and the Policy Group (Delhi), and taught at the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and Indian Statistical Institute (Delhi). He has a Ph.D. in economics from Indian Statistical Institute.

Seynabou Sakho is the World Bank Director of Strategy and Operations for Latin America and the Caribbean. Sakho was most recently the Country Director for Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama). In her position, she oversaw the programs and TCs, research and funding of the six nations.

Sakho, who is from Senegal, joined the World Bank in 2004. She has held several positions with the Bank, including as economist for Brazil, Jamaica and Bolivia, economic advisor to the Operations Policy and Country Services Unit, and advisor to the Managing Director’s Office. Most recently, she served as manager of Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management for East and Central Africa.

The new World Bank Director for Central America earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in finance and economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has also authored and co-authored several publications on economic growth, private-sector development, and the effect of financial restrictions on small and medium-sized enterprises.

Katarzyna Zajdel-Kurowska serves as Executive Director at the World Bank Group since November 1, 2020, representing Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Poland, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. She previously served as Alternate Executive Director for the same constituency from June 1, 2018 to October 31, 2020.

Ms. Zajdel-Kurowska held leadership positions as Board member of the Management Board of the National Bank of Poland (Central Bank) responsible for reserve asset management and financial and operational risk management; and also as former Alternate Executive Director, Poland’s representative at the IMF during the period of financial crisis.

Prior to joining the IMF, Ms. Zajdel-Kurowska held the position of Deputy Finance Minister responsible for economic and financial policy, public finance and debt management and regulation of financial institutions. Before governmental career, Ms. Zajdel-Kurowska was Chief Economist for CEE Region at Citibank Handlowy responsible for macroeconomic and fixed-income research. Ms. Zajdel-Kurowsk has professional experience in the financial sector, international organizations, both public and private sectors, and working experience in macroeconomic analysis, financial markets, banking, risk management, asset and liabilities management, public sector policy advice, restructuring of health care and transport sectors. Katarzyna-Zajdel Kurowska earned a Masters degree in Quantitative Methods, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Warsaw University.