Mr. Simon Mizrahi has been named Acting Vice President, Technology and Corporate Services Complex, by the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), with effect from June 20, 2022.
Mizrahi, a British national, is currently the African Development Bank Group’s Director for Delivery, Performance Management, and Results, as well as the Operations Committee Secretariat and Quality Assurance’s Acting Director.
In these capacities, he oversees the Bank’s multi-billion dollar yearly investments across the African continent and engages with the Board of Directors and donors on the Bank’s development concerns in their entirety.
Mizrahi is a seasoned senior executive with over 25 years of expertise providing strategic leadership on development and development policies.
He has substantial expertise directing policy work and has published on key development agends with a particular focus on development impact, climate change, and development effectiveness.
Mizrahi has shown a good ability to guide ideas, make strategic decisions, and generate bottom-line results.
He examines and evaluates all Bank operations, operating regulations, and policies as the Head of the Operations Committee Secretariat.
His department also establishes and maintains loan, monitoring, and project completion operational requirements.
In 2019, he developed the Bank’s Quality Assurance Plan and launched the institution’s first training program for operational staff aimed at increasing the quality and effect of the institution’s operations.
Mizrahi was the Deputy Head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where he was in charge of aid effectiveness, before joining the Bank.
He was a co-author of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action, which were both signed by 110 governments and organizations throughout the world.
Simon also worked as a country director for Médecins du Monde in Kigali, Rwanda, and Managua, Nicaragua, from 1994 to 1996.
Mizrahi has worked in eight African nations, including as the Head of Operations for Urgence Rwanda in 1994, a coalition of non-governmental organizations tasked with bringing humanitarian aid to Rwanda and Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the aftermath of the genocide.
Mizrahi earned a Master of Philosophy in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom in 1991, as well as a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris in France (1990).
Commenting on his appointment, he said: “I am humbled and deeply honoured that Dr. Adesina has appointed me to this new and very exciting position. Innovation and technology have the potential to revolutionise the way the Bank operates and does business in Africa.
“The Bank has an amazing and highly skilled staff and I look forward to working with them to harness the transformative energy of technology to better support the Bank’s corporate services and realise its development goals”.
Commenting on the appointment, president of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said: “I am pleased to appoint Simon Mizrahi into this new role of Acting Vice President for Technology and Corporate Services to lead the drive for full digitalisation of the Bank, deployment of big data analytics, robotics, machine learning and other IT tools and systems to revamp how we do business, including cybersecurity to protect ourselves.
“Simon is a highly skilled and experienced member of my senior leadership team. He is results-oriented, a quality that shows in the successful manner he delivers complex operations in challenging settings across the continent.
“He will help provide the leadership needed to orient this new vice presidency until the substantive vice president for the new Technology and Corporate Services Complex is appointed.”
Media Contact:
Communication and External Relations Department: media@afdb.org
About the African Development Bank Group:
Africa’s premier development financing organization is the African Development Bank Group. The African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Nigeria Trust Fund are its three independent institutions (NTF). The Bank helps to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member states by operating in 41 African countries and having an external office in Japan.
For more information: www.AfDB.org