Kenichi Yokoyama
Director General, SARD
Mr. Kenichi Yokoyama is the Director General of Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) South Asia Department. He assumed office in May 2020. Mr. Yokoyama oversees the operations of seven sector divisions and six country offices in South Asia regions as well as regional cooperation initiatives. The six countries include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Mr. Yokoyama joined ADB in 1999 and has since occupied progressively responsible positions. Early in his ADB career, he was assigned to project operations in South Asia covering the water resources sector. Between 2012 and 2017, he served as Country Director for Nepal Resident Mission. In 2017, he was appointed as Country Director for India Resident Mission where he stayed until April 2020. Prior to joining ADB, he worked for the Government of Japan (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and Embassy of Japan in Dhaka, Bangladesh) for 16 years. Mr. Yokoyama is a national of Japan. He holds a master's degree in Agriculture Economics from Stanford University, USA and obtained his undergraduate degree in Agriculture Engineering from Iwate University Japan.
Rana Hasan
Regional Economic Advisory, SARD
Rana Hasan is Regional Economic Advisor at the Asian Development Bank’s South Asia Department. His research areas and interests include industrial development, labor economics, urban economics, and poverty and inequality. He has previously served as a director in ADB’s research department and as Fellow at the East-West Center (USA). Rana has published in various journals including the Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, and World Development. He has co-edited two volumes on trade and labor related issues. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland and a Masters’ degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.
Jazira Asanova
Pricipal Operations Coordination Specialist, SARD
Jazira Asanova has over 20 years of experience, including 15 years with ADB as staff in East Asia Department, Central and West Asia Department, South Asia Department, and Strategy, Policy and Review Department (SPD). In SPD, she led development of ADB’s corporate results frameworks for 2017-2020 and 2019-2024. Jazira designed and implemented investment projects in the education sector in the People’s Republic of China, Mongolia, Central Asia, and Caucuses and in South Asia Department, she leads knowledge management and capacity development initiatives. Prior to ADB, Jazira held lecturer positions at the University of Toronto, Canada. She has published book chapters and articles on educational reform in developing countries in peer reviewed journals. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy from Hofstra University, New York, and has undertaken graduate study in comparative and international education at Columbia University, New York.
Aaron Dennis
Social Development Speacialist
Aaron Dennis is a Social Development Specialist in the South Asia Energy Division of the Asian Development Bank. Aaron encourages collaborations on data management and visualization to help augment social safeguard risk analysis and compliance monitoring. Aaron is particularly enthused to help new and aspiring data practitioners and project teams to experience the ease and joy of structuring, managing and visualizing information using free and open-source technologies.