African Development Bank appoints Simon Mizrahi as Vice President for Technology and Corporate Services | African Development Bank

The African Development Bank has appointed Simon Mizrahi, a British subject, as Vice President for its Technology and Corporate Services Complex, effective 1^st from April 2023.

Prior to his new appointment, Mizrahi, a seasoned senior executive with more than thirty years of experience in providing strategic leadership in development operations and policies, served as acting vice president for the complex as well as director of the bank’s Development Impact and Results Division .

Since joining the African Development Bank, Mizrahi has developed a deep understanding of the institution’s business needs, its operating environment and its corporate governance. He also has extensive experience leading complex corporate reforms. In 2019, Mizrahi played a key role in the bank’s proposal for a seventh general capital raise, raising $115 billion in additional capital – the largest increase in its history. In the same year, he developed the bank’s quality assurance plan and established the Operations Academy, the institution’s first formal program to train operational personnel as a means to improve the quality and impact of banking operations.

Mizrahi is also responsible for promoting transparency and accountability within the African Development Bank. In 2022, Publish What You Fund, the global campaign for aid and development transparency, named the African Development Bank the most transparent development organization in the world. It ranked its Sovereign Portfolio first out of 50 global development institutions in its Aid Transparency Index with a top score of 98.5.

Prior to joining the African Development Bank, Mizrahi worked at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development as Deputy Head of Aid Effectiveness. He authored the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action, two landmark agreements adopted by 110 countries and organizations around the world. Before that, he was country director for Médecins du Monde in Rwanda and Nicaragua from 1994 to 1996.

Mizrahi has a deep first-hand understanding of Africa’s development challenges. He has operated in eight African countries and in 1994 was Head of Operations for Urgence Rwanda, a coalition of non-governmental organizations that provided humanitarian aid to Rwanda and Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the immediate aftermath of the genocide.

Mizrahi started his professional career in the financial sector in London. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a strong capacity for thought leadership, strategic decision-making, and delivering bottom-line results. He has published extensively on issues central to the development agenda, particularly development impact, climate change, business performance and development effectiveness.

Mizrahi holds a Master of Philosophy in Politics and International Relations from the University of Cambridge (1991) and a Masters in Political Science from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (1990).

Commenting on his appointment, Mizrahi said: “I am deeply honored that Dr. Adesina has appointed me to this position. I see it as an extraordinary opportunity to contribute to the business priorities of the African Development Bank and to promote Africa’s premier development agency.”

Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group, said: “I am delighted to appoint Mr. Simon Mizrahi to this new role of Vice President for Technology and Corporate Services Complex where he will lead the drive to fully digitize the bank and implement big data analytics, robotics, machine learning and other IT tools. He will drive the bank’s real estate strategy and oversee the formulation and implementation of its policies and controls on asset management and information technology systems. Simon will also ensure effective and sustainable delivery of business services, including institutional procurement, language services, cybersecurity and business continuity.”