ACET’s Board of Directors comprises some of the more eminent thinkers and doers on African development and individuals with outstanding records in international development. They bring a wealth of business, government, academic, policy advisory, and nonprofit management expertise.
Luisa Dias Diogo (Board Chair)
Madame Diogo served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Mozambique from February 2004 to January 2010. Prior to that, she was the country’s Minister of Planning and Finance, helping draft and roll out the government’s first five-year development plan. The plan provided the foundation for the country’s rapid economic recovery from the ravages of years of conflict and civil war.
Fakhruddin Ahmed
Fakhruddin Ahmed was Prime Minister of Bangladesh from January 2007 through December 2008. From 2005 to January 2007, he served as Managing Director of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, the world’s largest apex fund for microcredit. He also worked as Governor of the Central Bank of Bangladesh and served for more than 20 years at the World Bank, working on countries in South Asia, East Asia, and Africa.
K.Y. Amoako
Before founding ACET, K.Y. Amoako served as Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Prior to UNECA, he held several positions at the World Bank, including Director for Education and Social Policy.
Joseph Bell
Joseph Bell is a partner at the law firm of Hogan Lovells and serves as a director of the International Senior Lawyers Project, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Revenue Watch Institute, and founding member of the technical group of the Natural Resource Charter. He works primarily on natural resource issues in developing economies
Bowman Cutter
Bowman Cutter is a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. Previously, he served as a managing director of Warburg Pincus, a major global private equity firm headquartered in New York and has held senior economic policy roles in the Administrations of two U.S. presidents—at the National Economic Council in 1992–1996, during the Clinton Presidency, and at the Office of Management and Budget in 1976–1981, during the Carter Presidency, as Executive Director for Budget.
Eveline Herfkens
Eveline Herfkens was the United Nation Secretary-General’s Executive Coordinator for the Millennium Development Goals Campaign from 2002-2005. Previously, she served as the Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation from 1998 to 2002 and Executive Director of the World Bank from 1990 to 1996.
Rosalind Kainyah
Rosalind Kainyah joined Tullow Oil plc in June 2009 as Vice President of External Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility. She previously served as Director of Public Affairs, USA, for the De Beers Group. Rosalind has also advised government departments and agencies on environmental policy and legislation and reviewed and drafted environmental legislation for international and national organizations and institutions.
Mamadou Lamine Loum
Mamadou Lamine Loum was Prime Minister of Senegal from July 1998 to March 2000. Previous positions include Minister of Economy in Senegal and Chief Treasurer and Paymaster (1984–1991), General Director of Treasury (1991–1993), and Deputy Minister in charge of the budget (1993–1998). He currently chairs the International Advisory Group on the Chad-Cameroon Petroleum Development and Pipeline Project.
Linah Kelebogile Mohohlo
Linah Mohohlo was appointed Governor of the Bank of Botswana in 1999, following a 23-year career with the Bank. She has also worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), served as Governor of the IMF for Botswana, and has been a member of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, comprising more than 20 Anglophone Sub-Saharan African countries.
Tony Oteng-Gyasi
Tony Oteng-Gyasi is Managing Director and Chairman of Tropical Cable and Conductor Ltd., a wholly Ghanaian-owned manufacturer of electrical cables, and the immediate past President of Association of Ghana Industries. He is also a Board Member of the Ghana Export Investment Development Fund (a Ghana Government Fund, which disburses $50 million annually in loans and grants to the export sector). In addition, he has previously chaired the University of Ghana Governing Council.
Praful Patel
Praful Patel is the President of Centennial Africa and Middle East, a global strategic advisory group and convener of regular Emerging Markets Forums. He has previously served as World Bank Vice President for South Asia. In a career spanning more than 35 years at the World Bank, he provided strategic leadership in managerial and corporate positions, in regions as varied as Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Jean-Michel Severino
Jean-Michel Severino is the Chairman of the private finance company Investisseur & Partenaire pour le Développement. He served as the CEO of France’s International Development Agency from 2001 to 2009 and was director in charge of international development at the French Ministry of Cooperation. He also served as World Bank Director for Central Europe and then as Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific.
Stephen Yeo
Stephen Yeo is the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, a leading European research network in economics, bringing together more than 600 European economists to produce applied theory and empirical work on a wide range of international economic policy issues.
