Spring Meetings

Ms. Sayeh is a distinguished visiting fellow at CGD. She was a director of the IMF’s African Department from July 2008 to August 2016. Prior to that, as Minister of Finance in post-conflict Liberia, Ms. Sayeh led the country through the clearance of its long-standing multilateral debt arrears, the HIPC Decision Point, the Paris Club, and its first Poverty Reduction Strategy, significantly strengthening its public finances and championing public financial management reform. Before joining President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Cabinet, she worked for the World Bank for 17 years, including as country director for Benin, Niger, and Togo; senior country economist on Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as an advisor in the Bank’s Operations Policy Vice Presidency and as assistant to its principal managing director. Ms. Sayeh also worked in economic advisory positions in Liberia’s Ministries of Finance and Planning. She earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in Economics from Swarthmore College and a PhD in International Economic Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Ms. Kaba was born in Nigeria and grew up in France. She graduated from Paris Nanterre University in 1994 with a degree in development economics.

Ms. Kaba did an internship at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs before working as an adviser at the Guinean ministry of economy, finance and planning from 1996 until 1999. She has worked on several development projects with the European Union and oversaw analysis of the European Commission's partnership with South Africa related to macroeconomics and budgetary transparency. In 2014, Ms. Kaba became country-head of the Africa Governance Initiative of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Ms. Kaba was appointed Minister of Finance by President Alpha Condé on 6 January 2016, the first woman in the role and one of seven women appointed to cabinet.

Mr. Al-Abbadi is the Deputy Governor for Foreign Banking Operations and Research at the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY). He oversees CBY’s operations in international payments and receipts, FX reserve management, external debt management, and research and statistics. He has been in this position since November 2016. Prior to this position, he was an academic researcher on economic and educational development in conflict affected states.

Mr. Collyns joined the IEO as Director in February 2017, after working as Managing Director and Chief Economist at the Institute of International Finance for 3 1/2 years. He served as Assistant Secretary for International Finance at the US Treasury Department from February 2010 to July 2013. Prior to joining Treasury, he worked at the IMF, including as Deputy Director in the Research Department responsible for the World Economic Outlook and Deputy Director in the Western Hemisphere Department. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford and a BA from the University of Cambridge.

Mr. Collier’s research covers fragile states, a topic on which he is co-directing a Commission of the British Academy; restoring growth in African economies, on which he worked for the 2017 G20 at the invitation of Germany’s Minister of Finance; the implications of group psychology for development, on which he is co-managing a research network led by Nobel Laureate George Akerlof; migration and refugees, which are the subject of his two most recent books; urbanization in poor countries, a program which has just won challenge funding from the Foreign Office; and the crisis in modern capitalism, which is the subject of his forthcoming book, The Future of Capitalism, to be published in October. Five books published since 2007, including The Bottom Billion which won the Lionel Gelber, Arthur Ross and Corine prizes and was the joint winner of the Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book prize, and his latest, Refuge, which is an Economist ‘book of the year’. Received a knighthood in 2014 for services to promoting research and policy change in Africa and has been listed as one of the hundred most influential public thinkers in five of the past ten years.

Mr. Manservisi is the Director-General for International Cooperation and Development at the European Commission since May 2016. An Italian national, he previously served as Head of the Private Office of Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Commission Vice-President. In 2014, he was the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey. Before that, he held other positions at the Commission, including as Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs and Director-General for Development and Relations with African, Caribbean, and Pacific States. He has also headed the Private Offices of the Commission's President Romano Prodi and Commissioner Mario Monti and served in the Private Offices of the Commission's Vice‑President Filippo Pandolfi and of Commissioner Francesco Vanni d'Archirafi. A lawyer by training, he enjoys teaching and has been a visiting professor at the University of Bologna, University of Roma III, and the College of Europe.