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The financial framework that is supposed to knit the world together is failing to provide. As a result, countries with the least resources to adapt to shocks like climate change, pandemics, or conflict are falling further into debt and poverty. The world is not on course to meet universally agreed development objectives like those outlined in the 2030 Agenda or the Paris Agreement. Instead, socio-economic, environmental, and therefore human, security is eroding.
Fit for purpose some 70 years ago, the global financial architecture, comprised of the Bretton Woods institutions, needs to change. But how is the subject of intense debate. Some believe that the current system could be evolved, while others believe a new approach is needed if all countries – especially the least developed – are to have a fair shot at prosperity. What nuances underwrite these philosophies, and what is really needed to fix what is broken?
Join Perry World House and the Wharton School for this critical conversation on how to finance solutions to the world’s biggest challenges and secure a future that all countries want.
Speakers
Avinash Persaud's career spans finance, public policy, and academia. He is an emeritus professor at Gresham College and an advisor to governments and international institutions on financial policy. Persaud was previously a senior executive at several major banks, including JP Morgan and the Union Bank of Switzerland. He has served as chairman of the Caribbean Community’s Commission on the Economy, the regulatory sub-committee of the UN Commission on Financial Reform, among others. He was also a member of the UK Treasury’s Audit and Risk Committee and the Pew Task Force to the US Senate Banking Committee. Persaud has been a trustee of the Global Association of Risk Professionals and the Royal Economic Society. Persaud received the Institute of International Finance’s Jacques de Larosière Award and was voted amongst the top three finance public intellectuals in the world by an expert panel for Prospect.
Renaud Seligmann is the Director for Strategy and Operations of the Sustainable Development Practice Group. A French national, Mr. Seligmann joined the Bank in 2007 as a Senior Financial Management Specialist in the Africa Region. He held various positions, including Public Financial Management Sector Leader and Practice Manager in the Governance Global Practice, both in the Africa Region. He served as the World Bank’s Country Director for the Russian Federation from 2019 to 2022. Prior to this, Mr. Seligmann was Practice Manager in the Governance Global Practice in the Middle East and North Africa Region. He has also overseen the Digital Governance Community of Practice. Prior to joining the World Bank, Mr. Seligmann worked at the United Nations Board of Auditors and at the French Court of Accounts. Mr. Seligmann graduated from The Queen’s College, Oxford, and undertook post-graduate studies at Sorbonne University (Paris), the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences-Po Paris) and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration.
Moderator
Idrees Kahloon is the Washington bureau chief for The Economist and leads coverage of the White House, Congress and national politics. Prior to that, he was the Washington correspondent and US policy correspondent. He began at The Economist as a data journalist in London. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in applied mathematics and economics.
Introduction By
Erika H. James became the dean of the Wharton School on July 1, 2020. Trained as an organizational psychologist, Dean James is a leading expert on crisis leadership, workplace diversity, and management strategy.
Prior to her appointment at Wharton, Dean James was the John H. Harland Dean at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School from 2014 to 2020.
An award-winning educator, accomplished consultant, and innovative researcher, she has paved the way for women in leadership both in education and corporate America. Dean James has been instrumental in developing groundbreaking executive education programs, including the Women’s Leadership program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School.
Dean James serves on the boards of Morgan Stanley and The Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center, Inc. She is a sought-after thought leader whose expertise has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and numerous other media outlets. Her latest book is The Prepared Leader: Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before (Wharton School Press) which she co-authored with Lynn Perry Wooten, President of Simmons University.
