ICT Sector Unit General Contacts
	(202) 458-7077
	(202) 458 4466

ICT Sector Unit, Office of the Director

Jose Luis Irigoyen, Sector Director

Philippe Dongier, Sector Manager
Philippe Dongier, a Canadian national, joined the World Bank Group in 1998. He has played a range of leadership roles in the infrastructure and sustainable development sectors (1998-2001) and worked on operations and analytical work in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Philippe managed the Bank's support to Afghanistan reconstruction (2001-2004), and led a corporate initiative on strengthening the Bank's organizational effectiveness (2004-2005). Prior to joining the Bank, Philippe was with McKinsey & Company (1993-1998), advising companies and governments on issues of strategy and organizational restructuring, including in the telecom and IT industries. From 1986 to 1992, he worked in Nepal and Vietnam in decentralized and community-based infrastructure and finance, and enterprise development. Philippe holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in economics from McGill University.

Mavis Ampah, Senior ICT Policy Specialist
Mavis joined the ICT Unit in 2003. She is the regional co-ordinator for the Sub-Saharan Africa Team of the Policy Group. Prior to joining the Bank, Mavis worked in South Africa for two years as Chief Executive of the African Connection Program. Mavis has a BA in Economics from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), and a MA from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Edward Anderson, ICT Policy Specialist
Edward joined the ICT Sector Unit in September 2010.  His focus in the ICT Unit is on the transformation line of business, and he is one of the Task Team Leaders of the ICT Knowledge Platform.  After supporting the 2006 Development Marketplace for Health Innovations, Edward worked in disaster risk operations for the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank – this work involved new partnerships with technical communities including NASA, Google, and CrisisCommons. In 2004 Edward launched a technology start-up company for early warning systems in East Africa – focussed on a proof of concept for new diagnostic tools in malaria epidemic surveillance.

Edward has a professional and academic focus on science and technology for development. He trained as an Aerospace Engineer and holds an MA in International Relations. He started his career with the UN Programme on Space Applications for Disaster Management and European Space Agency’s Earth Observation Science and Applications Directorate. This work focussed largely on remote sensing, mapping, risk modelling for climate change adaptation in water resources, coastal zones, epidemics and food security.

Laurent Besancon, Senior Regulatory Specialist
Laurent joined the ICT Unit in 2003 and currently coordinates the Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP). His current duties also involve providing policy and capacity-building support to Governments in the East and Southern Africa region on an ad-hoc basis. Prior to joining GICT, Laurent worked for 3 years as a consultant for National Economic Research Associates (NERA) in London, advising Governments, regulators, and the private sector on wide-ranging regulatory and economics issues. Laurent also worked for France Telecom UK as regulatory affairs manager as well as for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as a strategy analyst in the Strategy and Policy Unit. Laurent graduated from the Institut National des Telecommunications in France and from the business university Paris Dauphine and holds a MA in Telecommunications Economics from Michigan State University.

Natasha Beschorner, Senior ICT Policy Specialist
Natasha Beschorner, a UK national, joined the World Bank in 1993, and the ICT Unit in 2004. She is the Regional Coordinator of the East Asia & Pacific team for the Policy group. Her areas of expertise include applied ICT for development planning and decision-making, including e-government; health information systems; and telecommunications sector reform, particularly extending the reach of information and communications infrastructure to rural and remote areas. She has extensive experience working in low-income economies, including fragile states and post-conflict environments. Her main responsibilities include design and management of investment projects and technical assistance programs on telecommunications reform and ICT for development in East Asia and Africa. She has a MS in Information Technology/Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University, a MA in Economics/Environment/Politics of the Middle East from the London School of Oriental & African Studies and a BA in Arabic/Spanish from Oxford University. She speaks French, German, Arabic and Spanish.

Deepak Bhatia, Practice Leader eGovernment Applications 
Deepak Bhatia is the Practice Leader for E-government applications in the ICT Unit and manages the Informatics components of Bank loans in several countries. Having joined the World Bank in 1984, Deepak brings 25 years of knowledge and experience in providing support to Bank's operations involving IT components. Deepak's knowledge of the intricacy of IT and understanding of the complexity of strategy development for process and IT integration is guiding IAS in providing tactical, operational, and facilitation services to Bank's operational teams in identification, assessment, and re-engineering of IT components in operational projects. His experience prior includes: manager for the e-government practice, manager for the informatics advisory service, manager for the Operations and Resource Management systems for systems renewal; manager for the Information and Document Management team in ISG; and project manager for the sector-theme reclassification project. Deepak has two Masters degrees in Computer Applications (M. Eng) and Business Administration (M.B.A)

Lyudmila Bujoreanu, Consultant
Lyudmila joined the ICT Unit in 2009.  Here she has been involved in Moldova Governance e-Transformation project, Armenia e-Society and Innovation for Competitiveness project and the eTransform Initiative.  Since 2001 Lyudmila has worked in managerial and expert capacity on ICT, e-government and telecom projects implemented in Africa, Central Asia, Latin America and Middle East and funded by the WB, IFC, UNDP, USTDA and USAID.  Before joining the Bank, she worked for a D.C. based consulting company Telecom/Telematique, Inc. (2003-2009); as a country representative of GIPI in Kazakhstan (2002); and managed a capacity building component of UNDP’s “Digital Development Initiative” (2001) in Uzbekistan. Lyudmila has MPA (2001) from Indiana University where she specialized in e-government. She also has MBA from Tashkent State University of World Economy and Diplomacy (1999).  She speaks fluent English and Russian.

Beauty Dhlodhlo, Program Assistant
Beauty Dhlodhlo is a Zimbabwean national who joined the World Bank Group in December 1995 under the IFC's Africa Project Development Facility (APDF), SME Department in Harare, Zimbabwe. She subsequently moved to the APDF's South Africa office in February 2000 and joined MIGA, Africa Region Office, Johannesburg in April 2002 until she joined the ICT Unit in September 2006. At GICT, she is responsible for assisting the Manager of the Public Policy and Operations Division. Prior to joining the Bank, Beauty worked with BP and Shell Marketing Services and The Ministry of Education in Zimbabwe.

Doyle Gallegos, Lead ICT Policy Specialist
Doyle Gallegos is the Global Practice Leader Connectivity and Infrastructure in the ICT Sector Unit of the World Bank. He leads the Bank’s telecommunications policy and regulatory agenda, regional backbone and rural connectivity programs, and implementation of PPPs (Pubic Private Partnerships) as they relate to development of the ICT sector in client countries. He has participated actively in the telecommunications sector for more than 20 years during which time he has developed core competencies in regulatory policy, international business development, strategic analysis and planning, privatization transactions, and implementation of sector reforms and liberalization programs. Prior to joining the World Bank he worked primarily as a consultant in close collaboration with Booz Allen Hamilton as a Senior Advisor and as a Senior Manager in Deloitte Consulting.

Siou Chew Kuek, ICT Policy Specialist
Siou Chew Kuek is involved in policy and operational work with client countries in the South Asia, Middle East and North Africa regions; and focuses on the e-government and IT/IT-enabled services practices of the ICT Sector Unit. Additionally, he is involved in the unit's global analytical and knowledge agenda, and has co-authored various publications on ICT for development. Prior to joining the World Bank, he spent about 10 years in the private sector, where he worked in a business development, consulting, and implementation capacity on IT projects for multinational corporate clients in Asia. He holds a bachelor's degree in management studies from the University of London and a master's in international development from American University.

Anat Lewin, Operations Officer
Anat's current work focuses on Middle East and North African countries in ICT data and statistical capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, e-government and ICT applications. She has also managed a $1.3 million Trust Fund for analytical work in the ICT subject area. She is interested in media, convergence and IT industry issues.  Before joining this group, Anat worked for the World Bank's Development Data Group as a Data Advisory Services Consultant and for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Ethiopia as an ICT Consultant. She holds a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, studied Arabic at the University of Jordan in Amman, and speaks English, French, German and Arabic.Her practice areas are: E-Government and ICT Applications, Media, and IT Industry.

Ilari P. Lindy, Senior ICT Policy Specialist
Before joining the ICT Sector Unit of the World Bank, Ilari worked as Senior Advisor at the Department of Development Policy in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland advising on strategic development MFA’s global policies and instruments related to information society as well as science, technology and innovation. He has previously served as Counsellor on ICT4D for Ministry at the Embassy of Finland in South Africa, Senior Expert for European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) and Project Officer at the European Commission DG Information Society. Ilari has been involved in a wide range of international, regional and national initiatives supporting innovation policy and systems development with particular focus on development and take-up of ICT enabled innovations. Most recently he co-chaired the European expert group of EU-Africa strategic partnership no 8 focusing on science, information society and space. His current interest is on Open Innovation and grassroots approaches.

Boutheina Guermazi, Regulatory Specialist
Boutheina Guermazi joined the World Bank in April 2004. She is involved in telecommunications sector reform in a number of African countries - supporting the adoption of Telecom and ICT policies and the elaboration of pro-competitive legal and regulatory frameworks. She wrote and published a number of articles and book chapters on trade law, telecommunications policy and regulatory reform. Before joining the Bank, Boutheina was Assistant Professor at the faculté des Sciences Juridiques Politiques et Sociales of Tunis and a Telecommunications Advisor to the Sector Reform Unit at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). She also worked as a strategy analyst for the Strategic Unit at ITU and a telecom consultant for the UNDP. Boutheina holds a PhD in Telecommunications Law and Policy from the Faculty of Law at McGill University, Canada, an LLM in International Law from Indiana University and a Bachelor degree in public law from the University of Tunis. She held a Fulbright Scholarship and was a research scholar at the Social Science Research Council (USA) and the Center of Studies for Regulated Industries (Canada). She speaks Arabic, French and English.

Naomi Halewood, Operations Analyst
Naomi joined the ICT Unit in 2004. She is currently working on a number of ICT projects in the East Asia and Pacific region, and is part of the Monitoring & Evaluation team, for which she performs data analysis and research. Prior to joining the ICT Unit, she worked in the Development Economics Data Group of the World Bank, and for the Center for International Political Economy in New York. She has a MBA and a MA in international development from American University, and a BA in political science and sociology from Brandeis University.

Isabelle Huynh, Postal Policy Specialist
Isabelle is a French national who joined the Bank in 2001 on a secondment program from the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry (MEFI). She covers regulatory issues mainly related to postal projects and focuses on the modernization of the postal industry. She spent 5 years with the MEFI in the department charged with postal and telecommunication regulation and was then sent to Washington for a two year assignment with the French Treasury office at the French Embassy. She holds a BA in political sciences and is graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Postes et Télécommunications.

Kaoru Kimura, Operations Analyst
Kaoru Kimura, a Japanese national, joined the the ICT Unit in 2004. She is the regional analyst for the Sub-Saharan Africa team of the Policy Group. She has been working for several operational projects in Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia. In addition, she has been actively involved in monitoring and evaluation activities in the ICT sector and has worked on the ICT At-a-Glance tables and the Little Data Book on Information and Communication Technology series. Prior to joining the ICT Unit, Kaoru was at Nippon Telegraph and Telecommunication (NTT) in Japan, where she worked on marketing, business consulting, and designing communication systems for multinational corporate clients. She has an MA in international development studies from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Japan.

Arturo Muente Kunigami, ICT Policy Specialist
Arturo, a peruvian national, joined the World Bank in 2006. He is currently involved in ICT and telecommunications projects in Latin America, as well as in analytical work in the Latin American and the Caribbean region and the State-owned Enterprises and IT Industry Development practice groups. Prior to joining GICT, Arturo was a consultant at Apoyo Consultoria in Peru, dealing mainly with rural telecommunications and telecom regulation projects in developing countries. He also worked at an ISP, a local bank and with the regulatory agency, Osiptel. Arturo holds a MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and a BA in Economics from Universidad del Pacifico in Lima.

Samia Melhem, Senior Operations Officer
Samia Melhem is the chair of the e-Development Thematic Group and leads the ICT Unit's Knowledge and Learning program focusing on client capacity building through knowledge sharing and peer to peer exchange on ICT4Ds. She is a an e-Government expert and has been the TTL of several eGovernment projects in Rwanda, Philippines, Morocco, etc.. She has 20 years of global experience in  ICT4D in areas such asTelecoms policy regulation, ICT for public sector reform (eprocurement, taxes, customs, trade), education, Knowledge economy and private sector development; and held several positions in different regions such as Africa, Middle East and Europe and Central Asia . Her interest is  using ICT as a tool to support public administration reform and introduce governance, transparency and organizational change. She has authored several reports/research papers, and has spoken in several international events on ICT and economic development.  She holds degrees in Electrical Engineering (BS), Computer Sciences (MS) and Finance (MBA).

Juan Navas-Sabater, Senior Telecommunications Specialist
Juan joined the ICT Unit in August 1998 and his current duties involve the design preparation and supervision of telecommunications sector reform projects in a number of countries of Latin America, Africa and the former Soviet Union. He is also actively involved in the design and implementation of e-government and information technology components in public sector reform and public financial management projects. Juan worked for three years as Project Manager in the field of advanced telecommunications services for development at the General Communications Secretariat within the Spanish Ministry of Development. He holds a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the Madrid Politechnical University and a Master’s degree in Telecommunications Policy Economics and Regulation from George Washington University. He speaks Spanish Russian Portuguese French and German.

Isabel Neto, Senior ICT Policy Specialist
Based in Maputo, Mozambique, Isabel is a Portuguese national who joined the World Bank in 2004. At the Bank she has written and published a number of analytical pieces on Spectrum Management, Mobile License Renewal, Financing Mechanisms for ICT, among others. She is part of a team working on Regional Connectivity in East and Southern Africa. Additionally, she has been co-ordinating the World Bank Group's participation in the World Summit on Information Society. Isabel holds a Master of Science degree in Technology and Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a B.Sc in Electrical and Telecommunications Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal. She speaks Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.

Tenzin Norbhu, Senior ICT Policy Specialist
Tenzin Dolma Norbhu joined the World Bank in 2000 and is the regional co-coordinator for the South Asia Team of the the ICT Unit policy group. She currently works on ICT and telecommunications projects in Asia. Her areas of expertise include ICT for development; telecommunications sector reform, rural telecommunications access and radio spectrum management. Before joining the Bank, she worked as an engineer in the telecommunications sector in Bhutan in the areas of operations and policy, and later as head of the Bhutan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. She has a MBA in the Management of Technology and an Honors Degree in Electrical Engineering. Tenzin is currently based in New Delhi.

Seda Pahlavooni, eGovernment Specialist
Seda Pahlavooni is an eGovernment Specialist with the Policy Division of the ICT Unit of the World Bank Group, where she provides strategic inputs to ICT projects in the East Asia and Europe and Central Asia Regions, and she focuses primarily on eGovernment and ICT applications in service delivery and government administration, in addition to her current responsibility for mainstreaming ICT in health operational engagements in general and mHealth in particular.

Prior to joining the ICT Unit she was responsible for training, functional and support aspects, on various business systems in the Information Solutions Group. She co-managed the ISR Support Center and successfully completed a 10-month Country Office Assignment (East Asia and South Asia IT Hub) where she spearheaded the training and support for 12 different country offices and contributed to the implementation of SAP initiatives. As part of the ISGIF eGovernment practice she contributed to various operational, strategic and capacity enhancement initiatives/efforts in ICT operations including design and implementation of ICT components of Bank-supported operations.

Ms. Pahlavooni holds an MBA with ICT Management from Johns Hopkins University, and a Masters degree in Political Sociology from Boston University

Oleg Petrov, Knowledge Management Officer
Oleg Petrov coordinates e-Development Thematic Group, a global community of practice of development professionals interested in ICT4D, hosted at the Global ICT Department. He has been with the World Bank for over 11 years working on ICT4D, private and financial sector development and knowledge management, currently as a consultant. Since 1999 he has been focusing on promoting the ICT for development and e-government agendas at the Bank and in the client countries by initiating and coordinating a number of programs and initiatives, especially in the knowledge sharing and capacity building area. This included about 20 online features and about 100 seminars and workshops on ICT and e-government. Oleg initiated the e-Development Thematic Group (2003), Global Development Gateway program (1999), coordinated about 20 Country Gateways in Europe and Asia (1999-2001) and managed a global portal on ICT4D (2002-2003). Oleg has contributed to several integrated e-development and e-government projects funded by the Bank, including e-Sri Lanka. He also worked with the European Union’s Public Sector Institutional Reform project in Russia as senior international expert on e-government contributing to client capacity building, single window program and new e-government strategy development.

Marta Priftis, Consultant
Marta joined the ICT Unit in June 1998. She works with the Latin America team and is also the knowledge management coordinator for the Division. Marta is also involved in the organization of technical traning programs. Prior experience within the Bank includes 6 years in the IFC Information Center. She has a BA (honors) in International Studies with a concentration in Economics from George Mason University. She speaks Spanish.

Michèle Ralisoa Noro, Senior Program Assistant
Michèle is the Regional Program Assistant for Africa in GICT since September 2002. Prior to joining CITPO, she worked in the Country Office of Madagascar where she was mainly involved in the portfolio management of Madagascar and Comoros projects.

Carlo Rossotto, Senior Regulatory Economist
Carlo joined the World Bank in 1998 and is the Regional Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa team of the Policy Division of the ICT Unit. He is the Task Manager of several lending and technical assistance operations in the Middle East, North Africa, and East Asia and the Pacific regions. He has performed economic and regulatory analysis in several telecommunications related projects including the privatization and fiscal impact of sector reforms. Before joining the Bank he advised European ICT corporations on demand analysis, marketing, corporate strategy and regulatory affairs. He holds post-graduate degrees in Economics and Business Administration from Bocconi University Milan and in Financial and Commercial Regulation from The London School of Economics. He speaks Italian, French and some Spanish.

Andrea Ruiz-Esparza, Senior Program Assistant
Andrea joined the World Bank in 1986 and has worked for the ICT Unit since mid-2001. She is the regional program assistant for information and communication infrastructure operations in East Asia and the Pacific region and the Europe and Central Asia region. In addition to operational activities, Andrea is the in-house editor and publications coordinator for the division. Andrea frequently works on Bank-wide activities, most recently, the Development Marketplace and the Advisory Committee for the Staff Survey. She speaks some Spanish and French. Prior to joining GICT, Andrea worked in operations in the industry and energy sectors in China and Mongolia, the rural water sector in South Asia, and on issues management in External Affairs. Andrea was the coordinator of the World Bank's Summer Employment Program in 1995/96, and coordinated the North American recruitment for the 1996 Young Professional Program.

Peter Silarszky, Senior Economist
Peter joined the World Bank in 2003. His current duties include preparation of a project to connect countries in East and Southern Africa to the global telecommunications network, and preparation of an information and communication infrastructure development project in Mongolia with focus on rural access. Peter also supports regional ICT initiatives in South Eastern Europe and works on issues related to distressed telecommunications incumbents and to development of backbone networks infrastructure and services. Prior to joining the World Bank, Peter worked for 5 years as management consultant with A.T. Kearney advising leading telecommunication companies, banks, and electric utilities in Europe on wide-ranging issues including strategy, business planning, post merger integration, and restructuring. He holds a PhD in Economics from the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education of the Charles University in Prague and graduated from the Czech Technical University in Prague. He speaks English, Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, and some Russian, Polish, and Spanish.

Gurcharan Singh, Senior Procurement Specialist
Gurcharan Singh (Guru) joined the ICT Unit in 2009 in the capacity of Senior Procurement Specialist. Prior to joining the ICT unit he worked in the ECA region advising on procurement in various infrastructure and energy projects.  He has task managed a number of grants and headed e-Government Procurement Components in a number of projects in the ECA region. He served as E-GP coordinator for ECA region and currently a member of e-GP thematic group for Multilateral Development Banks.    Before joining the Bank, he worked as Senior Engineer in various Government Ministries of the Government of India.  Guru has a post graduate engineering degree (M.Tech) in Management and Systems from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Randeep Sudan, Senior ICT Policy Specialist
Randeep Sudan leads the practices for e-Government and for IT industry development in the ICT Unit of the World Bank. He is currently working on ICT projects in Africa, Central Asia, East Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and South Asia. He is responsible for guiding strategies and policies on e-government and IT industry development for World Bank projects led by GICT. Prior to joining the World Bank he held senior government positions in India, as a member of the Indian Administrative Service. He was Special Secretary to the Chief Minister and ex-officio Secretary Information Technology in the state of Andhra Pradesh and was closely associated with policies and strategies for leveraging ICT for development. He has been the Chief Executive of APFIRST an organization focused on promoting investments in the ICT sector, and also of AP Technology Services, a company specializing in the use of ICTs in government. His areas of expertise include ICT policy, e-government, investment promotion, infrastructure development and public-private partnerships. He has a Masters degree from the London School of Economics. He has taught as a visiting faculty at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo.

Eloy Vidal, Consultant
Eloy joined the World Bank in 1986 and is presently Regional Coordinator for the Latin America Team in the ICT Unit. He has assisted member countries in restructuring their telecommunications sectors and in the design and implementation of legal and regulatory frameworks. Before joining the Bank, he was Technical Director of COMTELCA, the Central American Regional Telecommunications Commission. He has a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a Professional Engineering degree from the University of Costa Rica.