FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, and Members of the Committee, I am honored to appear before this Committee as the nominee for the position of United States Executive Director for the African Development Bank Group.

My interest in African economic development began thirty years ago when I served as director of Volunteer Teachers for Africa, a student-run program of Harvard University. My work as a volunteer, teaching dressmaking in rural Kenya, provided me with first-hand experience of the development challenge in Africa.

When I returned to the United States, I became involved in education, first as a teacher of African and African-American culture and then as an active parent. As my interest in Africa deepened, I received a masters degree in African history and later went on to receive a doctorate in economics from Columbia University where my research and dissertation again focused on Africa.

Since 1982, I have enjoyed a career as an economist and central banker at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. I have worked in various departments at the Federal Reserve Bank, including economic research, foreign exchange, international financial markets, international affairs, and the office of equal employment opportunity. My early research focused on country risk and capital flows to Latin American countries, but I have also worked on European markets and the role of central banks in transition economies. I have lectured on finance and economics in Latin America, Africa, and throughout the United States.

During the past five years, I have devoted considerable energy to studying, writing, and speaking about Africa. My recent work has dual responsibilities as both the equal employment opportunity officer and as the officer responsible for the Federal Reserve Bank of New Yorks relationships with African central banks. This work has included developing leadership programs for central bankers both here and abroad. In several State Department sponsored speaking tours in Africa, I have stressed the importance of capacity building and governance as critical underpinnings of economic and financial reform.

During remarks to the World Banks Development Committee in September, Secretary Summers outlined four pre-requisites for sustainable growth and poverty reduction:

1. Sound and transparent economic management;
2. A policy framework that integrates poverty reduction with growth objectives;
3. Priority attention to human development; and
4. Good governance, including institutions incorporating transparency, accountability, the rule of law,
and the participation of civil society.

This strategic vision of sustainable development is one that I share, and I am prepared to implement this strategy with all the skills that I have. The United States has worked diligently to promote the restructuring of the African Development Bank, thereby making the organization better able to provide the institutional support for the implementation of this strategy in the African context. Moreover, the AfDB has stated its intention to play a constructive role in countering corruption in its borrowing countries. In September, the AfDB Board adopted a policy to make governance reforms an essential element in African Development Bank operations throughout the region. Given these ongoing internal reforms and support for regional reform efforts, the AfDB is now better placed to play an active role in eradicating poverty in Africa and to serve as an institution through which the United States can make a significant contribution.

If given the opportunity to serve as the U.S. Executive Director, I would draw on my experiences as a banker, including work supporting the audit committee for the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to encourage prudential management and continuing reforms in internal governance at the AfDB. I would also draw on my training as an economist to implement strategies for sustainable growth and poverty alleviation.

Thank you for your attention. I look forward to answering any questions that you might have.