Aleksandra Liaplina, Founder and Board Chair. Aleksandra is an accomplished economist and policy advisor with more than 12 years of exposure in project and corporate finance, strategic consulting, policy, regulatory & transaction advisory in infrastructure development and planning. Aleksandra is currently with the Blended Finance Department of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) based in Washington D.C. and she is the Facility Lead of the a Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) which supports women entrepreneurs by scaling up access to financial products and services. Prior to that, she held a variety of positions with the World Bank, the last one as an Advisor to the G20 Finance Track, as well as other international organizations and companies including the United Nations, World Trade Organization and Intel Corporation. She is the author of books and publications surrounding digital development, regional integration and infrastructure finance. Aleksandra served on the boards of various NGOs including the Fulbright Association. She has a Master’s Degree in International Development Policy from Georgetown University whilst on a Fulbright Scholarship and a second Master’s Degree in Economics from St. Petersburg State University.
Léa Hakim, Vice-Chair. Lea is an economist and development practitioner with experience covering macroeconomic monitoring and policy-advice, debt management reform, and climate change finance in the public sector and international organizations, including the United Nations. She is currently Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Global Macro and Debt Analytics team based in Washington D.C. and the Program Manager of the Debt Management Facility which supports more than 80 developing countries strengthen their debt management capacity. Driven by giving back, Léa has inspired and led teams to found and/or grow five non-profit organizations for positive change in the community. Of these, she is the principal co-founder of the Fulbright Alumni Association of Lebanon which she led until 2017 and which established career guidance mentorship program for underprivileged youth. Léa holds a high distinction B.A. in Economics from the American University of Beirut and an M.A. in International and Development Economics from Yale University whilst on a Fulbright scholarship.
Alexandra Manea, Secretary. Alexandra is a Legal Counsel in the World Bank’s Office of Suspension and Debarment, which is part of the Bank’s anti-corruption sanctions system. In this role, Alexandra contributes to the Bank’s anti-corruption policy and assists with reviewing accusations of fraud, corruption and collusion against respondent firms and individuals brought by the Bank’s investigative unit, and with determining whether (and how) to sanction a respondent. Previously, she worked in the Bank’s Legal Vice Presidency on governance projects in the extractive industry sector, with a focus on enhancing transparency in the Africa’s mining sector. She holds a PhD in International Criminal Law, completed in a joint program at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, University “Titu Maiorescu” of Bucharest in Romania, and American University in the U.S. with a Fulbright scholarship. Alexandra has authored numerous papers on anti-corruption efforts across jurisdictions and corporate liability for corruption-related misconducts. With a strong belief that integrity education is one of the key sustainable solutions to reducing corruption, she lectures regularly on integrity and anti-corruption topics at various institutions, including the International Anti-Corruption Academy in Vienna, Austria.
Sonia Plaza, Treasurer. Sonia is a Senior Economist at the World Bank. She is in the Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice working on migration, remittances and diaspora; financial inclusion and cross-border labor mobility. She led a flagship on integration policies for migrants, diaspora, migration and remittances issues. She is the co-chair of the thematic working group on remittances and diaspora resources of the KNOMAD initiative (Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development). Sonia has produced the Migration and Remittances Factbook 2016, oversaw and lead the implementation on Migration and Remittance Household Surveys in Africa. She has worked on Science and Technology and private sector development projects in Latin American. She has also worked in the Africa Region in the Chief Economist Office. Sonia has a dual degree from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania in International Economics and Development.
Tannous Kass-Hanna. Tannous is an economist in the Middle East and Central Asia Department (MCD) at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). His work includes analytical and operational projects on fiscal policy, as well as external sector assessment and debt sustainability analysis in developing countries, notably Burkina Faso and Pakistan. His research investigates the international spillovers of fiscal policy, the effects of policy uncertainty on fiscal policy, and the distributional impact of fiscal policy. He joined the Fund after his doctoral studies in economics at Toulouse School of Economics in France.