Our Board

Cecilia Akintomide is a seasoned expert in Development Finance, Corporate Governance, and Law. She was Vice President Secretary General of the African Development Bank, and served as Head of Public and Private Sector Projects and Policy in the General Counsel and Legal Services Department of the Bank.  She is an Independent Director on the Boards of (i) CcHUB Growth Capital, Nigeria’s first social innovation fund, supporting high potential early-stage businesses; (ii) SWAgCo, an agricultural sector investment company; and (iii) Ondo State Development and Investment Promotion Agency (ONDIPA), a state government agency, focused on promoting development and investments. Cecilia is a member of the Board of Regents of Covenant University, one of Nigeria’s leading universities, and the Board of Trustees of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library. She was also an Independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of FBN Holdings Plc., one of Africa’s leading financial services holding companies, headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, and operating in various African countries and the United Kingdom. Cecilia is also a member of the Institute of Directors, Nigeria.  

Cecilia practiced law in Lagos, Washington D.C., and New York, at the law firms of O. Thomas & Co.; Thompson & Co.; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, with a focus on Business Reorganizations, Corporate Law and Commercial Law.  She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Ife (now OAU); Master of Laws from the University of Miami Law School; Master of Laws from the University of Pennsylvania Law School; and an Executive MBA from TRIUM (a combined program by LSE, NYU and HEC). She was also admitted to the Nigerian Bar and the New York State Bar.

Cecilia is an ardent champion of girls and women’s economic empowerment, and is passionate about corporate governance, sustainable development, as well as innovation and entrepreneurship.  She is a member of WIMBIZ (Women in Management and Business and Public Service), and serves on the WimBoard Committee and the WimBiz Endowment Fund Committee. She mentors, is a deacon, and a member of the church choir. She received gold and bronze medals in swimming, and was accorded the National Award of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in recognition of her contribution to sustainable development.  In addition, in 2019, Cecilia received the African Business Law Icon of the year award. 

Assistant Secretary-General and UN Women’s Deputy Executive Director for Resource Management, UN System Coordination, Sustainability and Partnerships. 
Ms. Anita Bhatia serves as the Assistant Secretary-General and UN Women’s Deputy Executive  Director since August 2019. 
Before joining UN Women, Ms. Bhatia has had a distinguished career at the World Bank Group,  serving in various senior leadership and management positions, both at Headquarters and in the field. She brings extensive experience in international development, strategy,  resource mobilization, strategic partnerships and organizational change management. In various positions, she led teams to deliver significant resources for scaled-up impact, including at the country level, and to craft innovative partnerships to advance development agendas and has made significant contributions to the evolving discourse on development finance. She has led diverse teams, including as Global Head of Knowledge Management, Head of Business Process  Improvement and Head of Change Management. In addition to Latin America, she has worked in  Africa, Europe, Central Asia and South and East Asia. 
Ms. Bhatia holds a BA in History from Calcutta University, an MA in Political Science from Yale  University and a Juris Doctor in Law from Georgetown University.

Jennifer Blanke is an expert on economic development and development finance who serves as a non-executive board member in not-for-profit and development-focused entities. She is former Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development of the African Development Bank Group, based in Cote d’Ivoire, where she was responsible for overseeing the Bank’s strategy, lending and programming for a significant share of the Bank’s activities including agriculture and agroindustry; water management and sanitation; and education and healthcare, as well as the cross-cutting themes of job creation and gender empowerment. Prior to that she was Chief Economist at the World Economic Forum, in Geneva, overseeing economic research activities and analysis and represented the World Economic Forum externally on key global economic issues, and with a particular focus on economic development and inclusive growth. Before joining the World Economic Forum, she worked as a management consultant in the banking and financial sector for Eurogroup Consulting (Mazars Group) in Paris. Jennifer was until 2019 a member of the Canadian Government’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth. She holds a BA in International Relations from Hamilton College; a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University; and a PhD in International Economics from the Graduate Institute, Geneva.

Dr. Frannie Léautier, Senior Partner at SouthBridge Group and CEO of SouthBridge Invest-ments, is a highly experienced and well-known finance and development expert, with long-standing global experience leading and transforming organisations in the private, public and non-for-profit spheres. She has held leadership roles at The Trade and Development Bank (TDB) Group, including Vice Chair of the Board, Special Advisor to the President before becoming TDB’s first Chief Operating Officer.  She also led the Asset Management business of TDB, including the recent launch of a unique product for trade finance in Africa.

Dr. Léautier had an illustrious career at the World Bank Group (WBG), where during her 15-year tenure, she held senior financial positions across the Group. Frannie was Chief of Staff to the President, and served as Vice-President for seven years of her tenure at the WBG.  She was Infrastructure Director and played a critical role in the strategic work around the joint World Bank/IFC infrastructure products and played a crucial role in developing the WBG’s infrastructure strategy.  At the WBG, she won several awards for her outstanding support and contributions.  She was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the African Development Bank (AfDB) and chaired the AfDB Board for much of the time she was there.

Dr. Léautier is known for her skills in operational management, transformational leadership, resource mobilisation, working with complex multi-constituency governance structures, and engaging with the highest levels of government.  Her work has contributed to attracting innovative financing to Africa. 

She has founded two companies, one in Risk Management Advisory and another to invest equity into SMEs. In addition to her extensive career, Dr. Léautier holds advisory and gov-ernance roles on several boards, including the UN Foundation, where she is a member of the Board and serves on the Program Committee and Nominating Committee; Orca Energy Group, a Toronto Exchange publicly listed company, where she is member of the Risk and Audit Committee and chairs the ESG Committee; chair of the board of Norsad Finance Ltd; member of the Executive Board at AZA Finance, a cross-border payments platform; trustee at ODI; and is a member of the board of Les Eaux Minérales d’Oulmes, where she sits on the Audit and Risk Committee. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Regional Advisory Group for Africa and has previously served as co-Chair for the Global Agenda Councils of the WEF on youth unemployment and also for Africa.  Other advisory and board roles she has held include with MIT, OCP Group, African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) where she was Treasurer and also chaired the Audit and Risk Committee,  Institute for Security Studies (ISS), King Badouin Foundation US (KBFUS), and Nelson Mandela Institute for Science and Technology (NM-AIST). She has authored several books including Leadership in a Globalized World: Complexity, Dynamics and Risk” and articles in prestigious journals.  She was distinguished professor at Sciences Po Paris, and has lectured at MIT where she developed a course on infrastructure systems.  She has also been invited to lecture at Harvard and the University of Tokyo. She holds a Masters of Science in Transportation, and a PhD in Engineering (thesis on Infrastructure Systems) from MIT.  She also holds a doctorate in Humane Letters from North Central College and a doctorate in Law from Lancaster University, honoris causa.

Hank has served in many areas of environmental business and policy. His career in the environmental policy world has included leadership positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as COO (Deputy Administrator) under President George H. W. Bush. During his time with the EPA he oversaw the development of innovative air and water programs to prevent pollution, including the development of the Energy Star program and implementation of market based trading programs under the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments. He has also served at the U.S. Department of Justice as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Environment and Natural Resources Division.

In economic development and investing, Hank served as Principal of Global Water 2020 focused on enhancing public-private WASH partnerships and he currently is Co-Founder of the Water Finance Exchange. Hank has served as Senior Vice President in charge of acquisitions and other divisions of Safety-Kleen, a billion-dollar environmental service company. He has also served as Managing Partner of SAIL Capital Partners and Vice President of William D. Ruckelshaus Associates, which co-managed the successful Environmental Venture Fund. As Co-Founder of Capital E, LLC, a strategic consultancy, he advised Fortune 100 and early-stage ventures on sustainable growth strategies. He also previously served as CEO of the Global Environment & Technology Foundation (GETF).

Hank has served as Commissioner of the National Commission on Energy Policy, and on the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, and has served on the Advisory Board to the National Renewable Energy Lab and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.  

Other positions include serving as Board Member of the US Water Alliance, Managing Director of the US Water Partnership, Chairman of the Board of WaterHealth International, Co-Founder of the American Council on Renewable Energy and Member of the Board of the Global Water Challenge. In 1991 the EPA awarded him with the Total Quality Leadership Award and in 2009 he received the national Richard Mellon Award for Environmental Stewardship. Hank holds a Bachelors degree with High Honors from Princeton University   and a J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Jingdong Hua is currently the Vice-Chair of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). Mr. Hua was Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank, and also served as the Pension Finance Administrator of the World Bank Group.

As Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank, he was responsible for the capital markets operations and oversaw an annual funding program of US$60 to 70 billion through debt issuances of IBRD and IDA. He led a global team of capital markets professionals in the prudent management of US$200 billion debt portfolio; US$170 billion asset portfolio managed for the World Bank Group and over 70 clients. He headed the World Bank Treasury’s capacity building, advisory and capital market intermediation services in financial analytics, asset management, and financial solutions for its clients.

As Pension Finance Administrator of the World Bank Group, he supervised the investment and administration of the World Bank Groups pension plans—with US$30 billion assets under management invested in a diverse pool of asset classes including fixed income, public and private equities, real estate and alternatives.

Mr. Hua was previously Vice President and Treasurer of IFC, where he established a global treasury and focused on the development of local currency debt capital markets and innovative financial products and solutions. During his tenure, IFC has significantly increased its local currency financing capacity to benefit private sector clients. He led market-opening and innovative bond issuances and structured financial products in emerging markets including Rwanda, Nigeria, Indonesia, Colombia, Uzbekistan, and India. He also significantly enhanced IFC’s loan syndications and co-investment program which has mobilised over US$60 billion for private sector development.

Prior to IFC, Mr. Hua served as Deputy Treasurer at the Asian Development Bank (AsDB) in Manila. He previously held various positions in the treasury departments of AsDB, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in New York, and the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan.

A Chinese national, he started his career in 1983 with China National Chemical Construction Corporation. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Qingdao University of Science and Technology, an MBA Finance from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Columbia University. 

Mr. Rakesh Nangia has more than 30 years of development experience serving at both the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank. He has lived in 9 countries and has experience of managing development programs in four regions (Africa, East Asia, Eastern Europe, South Asia) across more than 40 countries and multiple sectors.

Rakesh served as the Evaluator General at the African Development Bank from 2012-2018 where he led the transformation and revitalization of the evaluation function. Overseeing the preparation of more than 50 high-level evaluations, he helped AfDB reform institutional structures, policies and procedures to strengthen development outcomes.

Prior to this, he spent more than 25 years at the World Bank, where he held several senior positions. As Director of Strategy and Operations (Deputy Vice President) for the global Human Development Network he was responsible for guiding the World Bank’s global program in health, education, and social protection. He also served as Director of Operations and Ag Vice-President for the World Bank Institute, where he led more than 300 staff in reinventing the business model to better deliver on individual and institutional capacity across the world. While living in Hanoi, he was responsible for managing the World Bank Portfolio in Vietnam, where he grew the lending five-fold in six years to US$1.5 billion per year through innovative programming. In Tanzania, he was responsible for leading the preparation of several strategy documents and country/economic analysis as well as reforming the World Bank lending and knowledge portfolio.

He is currently a Partner and Chief Operating Officer at the Centennial Group, a global strategic, policy advisory and international development firm that provides actionable advice and support on a wide range of development and institutional issues. He also serves on a five member UNDP Audit and Evaluation Committee.

Naomi Tulay-Solanke is a Feminist, a human rights activist, a humanitarian and the Founder Executive Director of Community Healthcare Initiative (CHI), a local non-governmental organization that is providing healthcare and social services to women and children in underserved and hard to reach communities in Liberia since 2014. Naomi has nurtured a career in female advocacy with a humble interest in working with underprivileged youths and slum dwellers through the provision of advocacy, empowerment, awareness and basic health and social services especially to women and girls. She is passionate about amplifying the voices and roles of local actors in development processes at all levels. She holds a Master Degree in Public Health with an emphasis in Community Health. As a Social Entrepreneur, Naomi launches the PAD4GIRLS project, a local solution to menstrual health management, by training women and girls how to locally produce reusable sanitary pads, making it more available and accessible to girls of school going age, which promote girl’s retention in school during their period and help them live, learn and lead. Ensuring women and girls have control over their bodies, Naomi and her team opened the first SRHR clinic on wheels in Liberia promoting access to family planning contraceptives, condoms and access to safe and legal abortion. Naomi is a Dr. Fritz Raleigh, Humanitarian Award Recipient from Harvard University 2017. She is also an ASPEN New Voice Fellow and as a Change Maker, Naomi is also an ASHOKA Fellow. Naomi dreams of living in a world free of all forms of violence, with gender equity and peace.