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 nine 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. He possesses an innate ability to appreciate different cultures and distill and apply experiences.

Rakesh served as the Evaluator General (Vice President) at the African Development Bank from 2012-2018 where he led the transformation and revitalization of the evaluation function. Prior to this, he spent more than 25 years at the World Bank, where he held several senior positions including Director of Strategy and Operations (Deputy Vice President) for the global Human Development Network helping manage a global program in education, health and social protection. As Director of Operations and Acting Vice-President for the World Bank Institute he led a team of more than 300 staff in reinventing the business model to better deliver on building individual and institutional capacity across the world. As Manager of the World Bank Portfolio in Vietnam, he grew the portfolio five-fold in six years to US$1.5 billion per year through innovative programming. He is currently a Partner and Chief Operating Officer at the Centennial Group, and is leading the work on reframing and strengthening the business model.