Alumni insights
A quarterly round-up of news from the EBRD Alumni Association
In focus
Before the EBRD
I was born to German parents in Spain and spent most of my childhood in Spain, Latin America and East Africa. When my time came to decide on a field of study (in the early 1980s), the dominating economic factor was the seemingly unsurmountable North-South divide. The biggest challenge seemed to be overcoming poverty traps in the Global South. I decided to study economics to understand why some countries were rich and others remained poor, and how the poor countries could catch up.
In the end, I became a macroeconomist rather than a development economist and joined the International Monetary Fund in 1994 after earning a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Soviet Union had just collapsed. Several economies of the Global South – particularly in east and south-east Asia, but also in Latin America and Africa – were catching up fast, demonstrating that poverty traps were not inevitable. The biggest challenge of the day was economic and political transition: reuniting the two sides of the world that had been separated by the Cold War. And the IMF – along with the World Bank and a new institution, the EBRD – was supposed to play a big role.
Accordingly, I decided to join the IMF’s “European II” department (now dissolved), which was created specifically for the newly independent states emerging from the Soviet Union. My first IMF missions took me to Tajikistan, then to Uzbekistan. I remained interested in economic transition after joining the IMF’s research department, where I spent most of my IMF career.
The EBRD years
In 2008, my family and I decided to return to Europe. I applied to the EBRD for a job. The choice was obvious: my interest in transition and the attraction of joining a place that shared some similarities with the IMF, but was also different in interesting ways – with its blend of private- and public-sector virtues and bankers, not economists, running most of the show.
Like many former “IMFers”, I also liked the EBRD’s clarity of purpose. Both institutions reflected a historical need for multilateral cooperation; both have crisp Article 1 mandates. I was lucky to get a job as one of three Directors within the Chief Economist’s Office, which at that time had a significant operational role. I was responsible for the research side of the office – “policy studies” as it was called to avoid making it sound like academic research.
My time at the EBRD was hugely exciting. Almost immediately after I arrived, Lehman Brothers collapsed and our countries of operations were in the eye of the storm. While I was not on the front lines, I helped think through our crisis response. The EBRD crisis response and Vienna Initiative were born in quick succession, with tireless efforts on the side of Erik Berglof and Piroska Nagy.
Other highlights of my EBRD period including working with colleagues across the whole bank – at the time, there was a pre-Executive Committee consisting of deputies, of which I was a member – the Bank’s reaction to the Arab Spring and its expansion to the southern and eastern Mediterranean, integrating social inclusion into the Bank’s transition impact methodology and
(after Suma Chakrabarti’s arrival) reforming that methodology, with Josué Tanaka and others.
After the EBRD
One of the great things about working at the EBRD was that it helped me reconnect with Europe more generally, including my native country, Germany. In December 2013, I went to Berlin to present the Transition Report. The late Henrik Enderlein was in the audience, a wonderful economist and human being who later became President of the Hertie School of Governance before tragically dying of cancer. I knew he was close to the incoming German Vice-Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, and asked him whether he would take a job in the new government. He said he had just turned one down because he was about to create a new think tank (the Delors Institute Berlin), but would I be interested in joining the new administration? I said yes. A day after my return to London, Sigmar Gabriel called me while I was Christmas shopping. I initially thought it was Henrik pranking me, but it was real.
A few months later, I took leave from the EBRD to become Director-General for Economic Policy in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. It was a fantastic period; there was so much to learn about a country that felt both familiar and foreign to me, from a privileged perch. My bosses were politicians who were generally sympathetic to me, while my subordinates were competent civil servants that may have thought that, as political appointments go, they could have done worse. And since I worked for the junior coalition partner – not Chancellor Angela Merkel or Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble – I was reasonably free in the positions I was allowed to take, as long as I did not embarrass my minister or upset my direct peers. Apart from working on domestic German issues, I was also responsible for my ministry’s response to the second (2015) Greek crisis. We worked hard, including with our French counterparts, to keep Greece in the euro.
In September 2016 we moved to Washington, DC where I worked as a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute (PIIE), the world’s greatest think tank in international economics.
I continued to work and write mostly on Europe, but also on sovereign debt, which had been one of my topics at the IMF.
In the spring of 2019, I returned to the IMF as a deputy director in the Strategy, Policy, and Reviews Department (SPR). Even though I Ioved working at PIIE, I knew that this would be my last chance to go back to the Fund and to experience it from a much more operational perspective than my previous jobs, which were mostly in the Research Department, so I accepted.
Again, crisis broke out almost immediately after I made the switch: initially the default of Argentina and, shortly thereafter, Covid-19. At SPR, were at the centre of crisis response. It was a turbulent and exciting time, with great colleagues – perhaps a little too exciting and stressful.
Just as things began to quieten down a bit, in the summer of 2021, I joined Bruegel, the European economic policy think tank. We had not planned to return to Europe so quickly but it was a huge honour for me to get that job and a unique opportunity to influence the European debate, together with an enthusiastic and experienced group of people in a cohesive environment.
Our continent is yet again at a critical juncture. My EBRD experience continues to help, as well as the EBRD philosophy: to improve economic structure through hands-on projects that complement, rather than replace, what the market can do on its own; to preserve international integration as a force for good, and to expand the European family (or keep it from drifting apart). In this day and age, when economic nationalism and subsidy races challenge economic policy and authoritarianism and aggression threaten democracy, it is a good paradigm to fall back on.
Sylvia Gansser-Potts, an accomplished professional with a rich history at EBRD, has ventured into new territory by joining the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank. Rising to challenges in a nation at war, she deploys her expertise to recruit a new management team and navigate delicate terrains. Immerse yourself in Sylvia's compelling narrative from EBRD to Ukreximbank in her thought-provoking article. Explore her transformative journey and commitment to shaping the future of banking.
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A former EBRD Portfolio Analyst in Power and Energy, Mala Shah has made the transition into a successful new career of life coaching and mentoring. Co-author of six books, Mala volunteers at University College, London and NatWest Bank, mentors MBA students and entrepreneurs, and serves as a trustee-office bearer at the Oshwal Association of the UK. Certified as a fire-walking instructor, she offers unique activities for corporate and private clients. Mala's values of cultural diversity and empowerment, cultivated at the EBRD, continue to drive her impactful work. Learn more about Mala's inspiring career journey.
Andrzej, a seasoned EBRD former Deputy Director with a tenure dating back to 1992, made a strategic career shift to history in 2007. His academic pursuits at Birkbeck, University of London culminated in the attainment of a Certificate of Higher Education with Distinction. Through meticulous research of a 1937 diary, he unraveled compelling narratives of courage and ingenuity from a bygone era. Enjoy Andrzej's insightful historical investigations in his thought-provoking article. Read his captivating stories.
Delve into the captivating world of Thierry Malleret, a former EBRD Associate Banker turned Managing Partner of the Monthly Barometer. With a rich background in global risk analysis and strategic foresight, Malleret's latest work, Deaths at Davos, offers a thrilling narrative set against the backdrop of high-stakes geopolitics and personal intrigue. Follow protagonist Olena Kostarenko as she unravels a web of deceit at the prestigious Davos gathering, where the future of nations hangs in the balance. Explore this riveting thriller and experience a blend of suspense, geopolitical turmoil, and the quest for truth in a world on the brink.
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