Wempi Saputra is Vice-President for Sectors and Themes at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He joined ADB on 1 September 2026 and oversees the strategy and operations of ADB’s eight sectors, important themes, and business intelligence and operations coordination.

VP Saputra brings more than 30 years of professional experience in development finance, economic governance, public policy, economic diplomacy, and institutional reform across government and multilateral organizations.

Prior to ADB, VP Saputra served as Executive Director at the World Bank, representing 11 Asia-Pacific member countries and providing board-level oversight of the institution’s operations, strategy, and governance. From 2021 to 2022, he served as the Assistant Minister for Macroeconomic Policy and International Finance in the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia. Concurrently, he served as G20 Finance Deputy during the country’s 2022 G20 Presidency and co-chaired the Joint Finance and Health Task Force that established the USD 1.3 billion Pandemic Fund to strengthen global health financing.

VP Saputra previously held several senior leadership positions in the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia, including Chief of Staff to the Minister of Finance, Director of the Center for Policy Analysis and Harmonization, and Chief Change Management Officer for the Ministry’s transformation program. Earlier in his career, he served in a range of leadership roles within the Directorate General of Customs and Excise. He has also held board and advisory positions with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the National Committee on Islamic Economy and Finance (KNEKS), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), among others.

VP Saputra holds a PhD in Economics from Nagoya University, Japan, a Master of Public Finance from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), Japan, and a Bachelor’s degree in Financial Management from the University of Indonesia. He has also completed his post graduate study in AI and Machine Learning from the University of Texas at Austin, USA.

Johanna Hill began her role as Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization in November 2023. She is a trade expert with more than 25 years of experience in international trade. Previously, she was Managing Partner of the San Salvador Office of CA Trade Consulting Group, advising firms and small and medium-sized enterprises on international trade and foreign direct investment. Her other roles included Executive Director of El Salvador’s Chamber of Telecommunications and member of the Board of Directors of Banco Azul. She also served as Vice Minister of Economy, responsible for trade policy, bilateral free trade agreements, and multilateral negotiations. She holds a master’s degree in international economic policy from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University.

Arsenio M. Balisacan is Secretary of the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev), the successor to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), which he has led under two presidential administrations.

Before returning to NEDA in 2022, he served as founding Chairperson of the Philippine Competition Commission, Dean of the University of the Philippines School of Economics, and Centre Director and Chief Executive of the Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).

Dr. Balisacan has taught economics for more than three decades. Earlier in his career, he was a research fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu and an economist at the World Bank in Washington, DC.

He is an Academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Hawai‘i.

Albert F. Park is Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Director General of its Economic Research and Development Impact Department. He is chief spokesperson on economic and development trends and leads the production of ADB’s flagship knowledge products and support for regional cooperation fora.

Mr. Park has more than 2 decades of experience as a development economist and is a well-known expert on the economy of the People’s Republic of China. He has worked on a broad range of development issues including poverty and inequality, intergenerational mobility, microfinance, migration and labor markets, the future of work, and foreign investment.

Mr. Park is Chair Professor of Economics, Social Science, and Public Policy at HKUST (on leave). He served as a founding director of HKUST’s Institute for Emerging Market Studies and Center for Economic Policy, and previously held faculty positions at the University of Oxford and the University of Michigan.

A national of the United States, he received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University and his doctorate in applied economics from Stanford University.

José Signoret is a Senior Economist in the World Bank Group’s global Trade Policy and Facilitation team, with more than 20 years of experience in international trade, development economics, and applied policy analysis. He leads analytical and diagnostic work, advises governments, and supports reforms related to trade policy, regional integration, competitiveness, subsidies, services trade, and nontariff measures across developing economies. Before joining the World Bank, he conducted economic research at the U.S. International Trade Commission and directed trade capacity-building initiatives at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. His research has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and major global and country reports. He holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree from the University of Michigan.

Anna Katariina Nilsson Hakkala is Senior Economist at the Economic Research and Development Impact Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). She has more than 20 years of experience in economic research, academic teaching, and policy consulting for governments and international organizations. Before joining ADB, she was a Professor at the UP School of Economics, Philippines. She held senior research positions at ETLA Economic Research and the VATT Institute in Finland, and taught economics at Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics, and Lund University.

Dr. Nilsson Hakkala has extensive experience advising governmental organizations and international organizations. Her research has been published in leading journals such as Review of Economics and Statistics, Economic Journal, European Economic Review, and Industrial and Corporate Change. She holds a PhD in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Martin Roy is Counsellor in the Trade in Services and Investment Division of the WTO Secretariat. He is Secretary of the Special Session of the Council for Trade in Services and leads the Trade in Services for Development initiative at the WTO. In the lead-up to the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference in June 2022, he worked in the Director General’s Delivery Unit, focusing on the WTO response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2014 and 2016, he was Senior Advisor at the Office of the Chief Trade Advisor for Pacific Island Countries. Mr. Roy co-edited Research Handbook on Trade in Services and Opening Markets for Trade in Services.

Aminur Rahman is an Advisor in the Office of the Chief Economist and Director General, Economic Research and Development Impact Department, of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He has over 22 years of experience across ADB, the World Bank, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), delivering integrated, innovative, and results-oriented solutions to development challenges in more than 40 low-, middle-, and high-income countries across Asia, the Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and Europe. His work has been published in several journals, including the Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Geography, Journal of Comparative Economics, and World Development, as well as by publishers such as MIT Press, Routledge, and Palgrave Macmillan. As a Royal Economic Society Junior Fellow, he obtained a PhD in Economics from University College London and, as a Laila Hirani Memorial Scholar, an MSc in Development Economics from the University of Oxford.

Jong Woo Kang is Director of the Regional Cooperation and Integration Division at the Economic Research and Development Impact Department (ERDI) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). As Director, he plays a role as an interface between ADB’s internal and external stakeholders on regional cooperation and integration. He is a seasoned economist with extensive knowledge and experience on policy and strategic issues. He was Principal Economist at ERDI, Senior Advisor to the Managing Director General of ADB and Senior Economist at Strategy and Policy Department at ADB. He leads the annual publication of Asian Economic Integration Report. Areas of his research interest include regional integration, inclusive growth, macroeconomic policies, international trade and finance, and aid effectiveness. He published articles in economics journals such as Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Applied Economics, and World Economy. Before joining ADB, he was Director at Ministry of Finance and Economy of Korea until 2006. He holds a BA in economics and an MA in public administration from Seoul National University, and a PhD in economics from the University of Washington.

Tahani Iqbal has over 15 years of experience in digital transformation, telecommunications, and technology policy across the Asia-Pacific region. She currently champions ADB’s digital sector operations in Central, West, and South Asia. Prior to joining ADB, she was part of Meta’s APAC Connectivity and Access Policy team where she led initiatives on connectivity, infrastructure, and digital inclusion. She also served as a regulatory and policy specialist at Axiata Group Berhad, supporting telecom and digital investments across South and Southeast Asia.

Tahani has also worked with the World Bank, the Singapore Internet Research Centre (SIRC) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, and LIRNEasia, a regional digital advocacy think tank in Sri Lanka. She is a published author on digital sector issues.

Tahani holds a master’s degree in public policy from the National University of Singapore and a BSc in Economics and Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Çiğdem Akın is Director of Public Sector Management and Governance Sector Office, Sectors Group at ADB, responsible for the design, implementation, and evaluation of ADB projects as well as policy advice, capacity building, and knowledge dissemination in the field of public sector management. Çiğdem Akin has worked on a variety of areas ranging from public resource management and fiscal policy, SOE reforms, ICT applications in public finance and financial inclusion, decentralization and local governance, financial sector development, and MSME development.

Prior to joining ADB, she was teaching economics at the George Washington University as a lecturer and at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) as an assistant professor. Along with her academic career, she was a researcher at the IMF and at the Asian Development Bank Institute in Japan.

Çiğdem Akin holds a PhD degree in economics from the George Washington University in the United States and a master’s degree in international development from the International University of Japan as a Monbusho scholar. Her dual BA degrees are in international relations and political science, and sociology from Boğaziçi University in Türkiye.

Julian Latimer Clarke is Senior Specialist for Regional Cooperation and Trade (Climate Change and Regional Cooperation) at the Asian Development Bank.

Julian was a Senior Economist at the World Bank for 15 years. He previously worked for the International Monetary Fund, International Development Research Centre, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). He has published in academic journals such as the Antitrust Bulletin, the Journal of World Economics, book chapters published by the WTO, as well as numerous World Bank reports.

He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of St. Gallen, a master’s degree in international law and economics from the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Sydney.

Deepika Singh is Director of Trade, specializing in trade policy and international negotiations. With 12 years of public and private sector experience, including service as Director of Trade in Fiji, she has led trade negotiations and implementation across areas such as fisheries subsidies, agriculture, customs, labor rights, e-commerce and digital trade, climate and environmental issues, MSME development, trade logistics, and supply chain resilience. She is also experienced in market access, tariff policy, rules of origin, trade facilitation, and nontariff barrier analysis.