Speakers

Bio

Ahmed joined ADB in 2019 and has significant prior leadership experience in both government and the private sector. He is currently responsible for overseeing ADB’s operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Between 2004 and 2008, Mr. Saeed served in senior roles at the US Treasury. He was an advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury (2004-05) and the later Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for the Middle East and Africa, with responsibility for US economic diplomacy and financial engagement across 68 countries (2005-08). Ahmed has worked closely with two Secretaries of the Treasury (John Snow and Hank Paulson). He was deeply involved in a number of significant debt relief exercises (for Liberia, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq) and laid the basis for what became the Santiago Principles for sovereign wealth funds.

Prior to joining ADB, Ahmed spent close to eight years as Managing Director and head of JPMorgan’s coverage for finance ministries, central banks and sovereign wealth funds across the Middle East and North Africa. He has raised over $100 bn in financing for governments, including the debut sovereign bond issuances for several sovereigns and the largest ever sovereign bond offerings in emerging markets (twice). Mr. Saeed began his career as a lawyer at White & Case. In the late 1990’s he led technology related businesses in the UK, US and Japan, raising over $150 m for companies in which he was a key principal. Mr. Saeed holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Chicago Law School and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, as well as a BA (Economics and Political Science) from McGill University. He is a former White House Fellow and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Bio

Alok Sharma was appointed full-time President for COP 26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, on 8 January 2021. He was previously Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and President for COP 26 between 13 February 2020 and 8 January 2021. He was previously Secretary of State for International Development from 24 July 2019 to 13 February 2020, and Minister of State for Employment at the Department of Work and Pensions from 9 January 2018 until 24 July 2019. He was Minister of State for Housing and Planning, for the Department for Communities and Local Government from 13 June 2017 to 9 January 2018.

Bio

Mr. Ashok Lavasa is the Vice President for Private Sector Operations and Public Private Partnerships (VPPP) with the Asian Development Bank. He assumed office on 1 September 2020.

Prior to joining ADB, Mr. Lavasa was an Election Commissioner in India from January 2018 to August 2020, a constitutional position appointed by the President of India.

Mr. Lavasa served for nearly four decades with various government agencies in India including as Union Finance Secretary, Secretary Environment & Climate Change, and Secretary Civil Aviation. He also served as Additional Secretary and Special Secretary for Power. As a senior member of the Indian Administrative Service, Mr. Lavasa was associated with a broad array of public policy and program implementation initiatives covering the finance, power, environment and climate change, civil aviation, infrastructure, and tourism sectors. He led the official Indian delegation for climate negotiations for the Paris Agreement at COP21.

He is an author of a book titled An Uncivil Servant (Rupa: 2006) and has written several book chapters and academic papers covering climate change, economic policy, and energy. He holds an MPhil from Madras University, India, an MBA from Southern Cross University in Australia, and an MA from Delhi University, India.

Bio

Mr. Ashok Lavasa is the Vice President for Private Sector Operations and Public Private Partnerships (VPPP) with the Asian Development Bank. He assumed office on 1 September 2020. Prior to joining ADB, Mr. Lavasa was an Election Commissioner in India from January 2018 to August 2020, a constitutional position appointed by the President of India. Mr. Lavasa served for nearly four decades with various government agencies in India including as Union Finance Secretary, Secretary Environment & Climate Change, and Secretary Civil Aviation. He also served as Additional Secretary and Special Secretary for Power. As a senior member of the Indian Administrative Service, Mr. Lavasa was associated with a broad array of public policy and program implementation initiatives covering the finance, power, environment and climate change, civil aviation, infrastructure, and tourism sectors. He led the official Indian delegation for climate negotiations for the Paris Agreement at COP21. He is an author of a book titled An Uncivil Servant (Rupa: 2006) and has written several book chapters and academic papers covering climate change, economic policy, and energy. He holds an MPhil from Madras University, India, an MBA from Southern Cross University in Australia, and an MA from Delhi University, India.

Bio

Dr. Bambang Susantono is the Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development of the Asian Development Bank. He is a distinguished global leader, published author and active researcher. He is responsible for managing knowledge in ADB and coordinating research and studies on wide-ranging topics including in economy, infrastructure, digital technology, health, education, social, urban, water, energy; and cross-cutting nexus themes such as climate change, environment, gender equality, and regional cooperation.

He holds a Ph.D. in Infrastructure Planning, as well as Master’s degrees in Transportation Engineering, and City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor’s in Engineering from the Bandung Institute of Technology.

Bio

Dr. Chang-Seob Kim has 30 years of professional experience in the energy sector and is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Korea Energy Agency (KEA) since November 2018. Prior to this position, Dr. Kim was Professor in the Energy IT Department of Ga-Chon University during 2008-2018 and Professor in the Graduate School of Knowledge-Based Technology & Energy in the Korea Polytechnic University during 2003-2008. While in the universities, Dr. Kim concurrently held various high level advisory positions in the government of Korea and public companies including Commissioner of Presidential Committee on Green Growth; Commissioner of Nuclear Safety Communication Commission in Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Ltd.; Commissioner of Electric Power Policy Council in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE); Chair of Public-Private Working Group for the 2nd National Energy Master Plan; Commissioner of Energy Commission in MOTIE; Chair of the 5th and 6th Basic Plan on Electricity Supply and Demand in MOTIE; and Commissioner of Green Growth Committee in the Ministry of Interior and Safety. Dr. Kim began his career in KEA as Team Manager in the Climate Response Division in 1992 where he served till 2003. He received his B.S, M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Seoul National University, Republic of Korea in 1984, 1986, and 1990, respectively.

Bio

Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. She is also a Commissioner for the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty and the Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council. She is a global leader and advocate for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which calls for access to reliable, affordable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Prior to joining SEforALL, Mrs. Ogunbiyi was the first female Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency where she was responsible for successfully negotiating the Nigerian Electrification Project which is a USD 550 million facility (World Bank USD 350m and African Development Bank USD 200m) to rapidly construct solar mini grids and deploy solar home systems across Nigeria to close energy access gaps. She also conceptualised the Energizing Economies Initiative, which provides sustainable and affordable off-grid power solutions to economic clusters, including markets and industrial clusters in Nigeria, that is estimated to impact 1.2 million SMEs.

Mrs. Ogunbiyi previously worked as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Power and Head of the Advisory Power Team in the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria. She was responsible for the Power Sector Recovery Programme, which is a series of policy, operational, governance and financial interventions to be implemented by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).

Before joining the FGN, Mrs. Ogunbiyi was the first female to be appointed as the General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board. Under her leadership, five independent power projects were completed to deliver over 55 megawatts of power to Lagos State hospitals, schools, streetlights, and the Government secretariat. She entered public service as the Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Prior to her appointment, she was a consultant for the UK Department for International Development (DfID) on public-private partnerships.

Mrs. Ogunbiyi maintains a keen interest in mentoring and empowering young people through skills acquisitions. She created the Lagos State Energy Academy to build the capacity of young people in renewable energy technology, and the Energizing Education Programme (EEP) which launched a Female STEM Student Internship Programme to provide hands-on practical experience in designing and constructing power systems for 700 female undergraduates.

Mrs. Ogunbiyi is one of the Commissioners for the Global Commission to end energy poverty which is an initiative driven by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and The Rockefeller Foundation. She is the Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council aimed at driving action to accelerate the shift to clean energy ahead of COP26 and to bring together leaders in the power sector across politics, finance and technology to speed up the transition from coal to clean renewable energy in developing countries. She is also a member of the Development Advisory Council of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), member of the clean cooking alliance advisory board and a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Oxford – Future of Cooling Programme.

Bio

Dr. Reihana Mohideen is an electrical engineer leading the work on the clean energy transition towards sustainable systems, integrating gender equality and social inclusion (GESI), at the Nossal Institute for Global Health and the Climate CATCH Lab, at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research analyses advanced technology trends in the low-carbon energy transition in developing countries with specific applications to South Asia, as well as the opportunities to simultaneously leapfrog technology and social equity gaps. She completed both a BEng degree in electrical engineering (1981) and her postdoctoral studies in renewable energy systems in Asia at The University of Melbourne (2015). She has worked in international development for more than ten years. Reihana Chairs the IEEE Standards Association Workstream on Gender Equality and Social inclusion and she is an Executive Committee member of IEEE Standards Association on Digital Inclusion (DIITA).

Bio

Ms. Variava joined the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines in August 2021. She is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor. Previously, Ms. Variava served as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., at the U.S. Mission to Indonesia, and as the U.S. Consul General in Surabaya, Indonesia. In Washington, Ms. Variava was the Director of the Office of Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Bhutan in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State; she has also worked at the State Department Operations Center and on the Thailand desk. A member of the U.S. Foreign Service since 1996, Ms. Variava has also served overseas in India, Mauritius, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ms. Variava worked as a newspaper reporter in Waterville, Maine. Raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, she received an undergraduate degree in international relations from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She has a master’s degrees from the University of Missouri and from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. In 2012, Ms. Variava received a master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College in Washington, DC, and in 2014 she completed a fellowship in executive leadership with the International Women’s Forum (IWF). She and her husband have two sons.

Bio

Mr. Hongpeng Liu, Director, Energy Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

He is currently leading the energy team in ESCAP to promote regional energy cooperation with focus on implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 7 in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and energy connectivity for regional economic cooperation and integration. His work ranges from conducting policy studies, organizing intergovernmental meetings & policy dialogues and providing advisory services to facilitating regional cooperation on sustainable energy development in Asia and the Pacific.

Mr Liu has over 30 years’ experience on sustainable energy. Prior to joining the United Nations, he served as government official in charge of energy policies and plans, new and renewable energy industry development, energy and water conservation, environment industry development at different Ministries and Commissions of the central government of China.

Bio

Jackie Surtani was appointed Director of the Infrastructure Finance Division that covers East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands in April 2017. Prior to ADB, Jackie led the risk function of Siemens Financial Services’ Asian commercial finance unit as their Regional Chief Risk Officer and was responsible for a team of 80 staff in China and India. Jackie began his career at Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan) as Director of Global Power and Project Finance; was a Director for Global Project Finance at Credit Suisse; and Head of Project Finance Asia Pacific at KBC Bank for 14 years. Mr. Surtani has 30 years of successful experience in Asian infrastructure lending and advisory. He has a strong credit philosophy and sector and regional knowledge across the entire energy chain (i.e. power generation, renewable energy, LNG), infrastructure and telecommunications. Mr. Surtani is a national of the United Kingdom. He obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Finance and Economics from the University of East Anglia in 1988 with a First Class Honours degree. He obtained his Master of Philosophy Degree in Management Studies from the University of Oxford in 1990.

Bio

Dr. John Murton is the UK government’s COP26 Envoy.

John was Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and non-resident Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo from 2017 to 2019. Prior to this role, he was Deputy High Commissioner at the British High Commission in Nairobi and also served as the UK’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Kenya from April 2013 to August 2017.

Previously the UK’s High Commissioner to Mauritius and Ambassador to Madagascar, John has considerable professional experience in East and Southern Africa, having worked in Zimbabwe and researched his Ph.D. in Kenya, as well as having conducted research in Turkana.

John has previously served in Japan, at NATO Headquarters, and at the UK’s Foreign Ministry in London. His most recent role prior to Nairobi was as Head of the Foreign Ministry department dealing with the UK’s relations with East and South East Asia and Australasia.