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HomeInternational Advisory CommitteeDavid de Ferranti

David de Ferranti is currently the Executive Director of the Global Health Financing Initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and a Senior Fellow there.

Previously, he spent 25 years at the World Bank, where, as its Vice-President in charge of its work on health, education, nutrition, and other social services programs, he led initiatives focusing on health policy, financing, systems, and services delivery issues.

Also at the World Bank, he headed up, as Regional Vice President for Latin America, its activities in that region across all sectors, with responsibility for a $25 billion loan portfolio, 700 professionals in 14 locations, and a $160 million budget.  He retired from the Bank in 2005.

Prior to the World Bank, he held management positions at Rand, the original think tank, and in the U.S. government.

His research, writing, and management experience have included concentrations on Africa and Asia, as well as Latin America.  In addition to a primary focus on health, he has also spearheaded work on economic policy, education, nutrition, population, finance, poverty reduction, urban and rural development, transport, environmental protection, and water supply and sanitation.

He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University, with Outstanding Dissertation Award honors, and a Bachelors degree from Yale University, with Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude honors.

His Board memberships have included: The Rockefeller Foundation (where he chaired the Finance Committee overseeing the investment of the Foundation's $3 billion endowment); The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (where he is the current Chair of the Board); Transparency International - USA; Technoserve, Inc.; The Inter-American Dialogue; The Pew Memorial Trust International Health Advisory Panel; The Center for Global Development Advisory Panel; The Lewis T. Preston Education Program; The Escuela Nueva Foundation; and The Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the Americas. He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

He is a US citizen by birth, with Australian, Belgian, Italian, South African, British, and Dutch roots.  He has lived in nine U.S. states, plus Britain, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and has worked for extensive periods in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.