Candidates nominated by President Ilan Goldfajn confirmed by the Board of Executive Directors

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced the Executive Vice President and two of the Vice Presidents. Jordan Schwartz will be Executive Vice President, Ana María Ibáñez as Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge, and Anabel González will serve as Vice President for Countries. The candidates were confirmed by the IDB’s Board of Executive Directors.

As Executive Vice President (EVP), Jordan Schwartz, a citizen of the United States of America, is the IDB’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) with oversight of quality control and risk management of all Bank operations. The EVP serves as chair of Management committees responsible for the Bank’s operational activities and provides oversight and direction to the Vice Presidents and all other senior staff. He will assume his position on June 1, 2023.

Jordan Schwartz was the World Bank Country Director for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay from 2019 until January 2023. Prior to that, Schwartz held several leadership positions related to infrastructure finance, private-public partnerships (PPP) and urban development. He also served as Lead Economist in the Latin America and the Caribbean Sustainable Development Department of the World Bank. Before joining the World Bank in 1998, Schwartz worked in management consulting for transport strategy at Booz Allen & Hamilton and utility and infrastructure at Deloitte Touche. He holds a Master’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tufts University.

As Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge (VPS), Ana María Ibáñez will be responsible for the Bank’s generation of knowledge on development challenges across sectors to support member countries in the design and execution of their programs, projects and regional integration and trade initiatives, among other duties. Ibáñez begins as VPS on June 1, 2023.

Ana María Ibáñez, a citizen of Colombia, has had a long career dedicated to development research. She is Economics Principal Advisor in the Vice Presidency for Sectors and Knowledge. Previously she served as Dean of the School of Economics at the Universidad de los Andes. She has also been a visiting professor at Yale University and Princeton University, and a visiting fellow at the Institute of Development Studies. Her research focuses on microeconomic analysis of internal conflict, migration, and rural development. She holds Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Maryland at College Park, and an undergraduate degree in Economics from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia.

As Vice-President for Countries (VPC), Anabel González will be responsible for leading the Bank’s relationship with its borrowing member countries for the IDB Group, including the formulation of country and regional strategies, the supervision of the Bank’s public-sector operations, and helping develop the non-sovereign guaranteed program. She will assume the position on September 1, 2023.

Anabel González, a dual citizen of Costa Rica and USA, is Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization. She is a renowned global expert on trade, investment and economic development. She has previously served as Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica, and Senior Director of the World Bank Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice. She was Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. She holds a Law degree from the University of Costa Rica and a Master’s degree in Law from Georgetown University.

IDB President Ilan Goldfajn thanked Executive Vice President Reina Irene Mejía, Vice President for Countries Richard Martínez and Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge Benigno López for their service and asked for their support for the transition of the Executive Vice President and two Vice Presidents.