Description:

The Deitz Family Initiative on Environment and Global Affairs, part of the Jackson School of Global Affairs, will host a conversation with Leslie Maasdorp, Vice President and CFO of the New Development Bank (a.k.a. “BRICS Bank), who will discuss ongoing reforms to the multilateral development finance ecosystem and their implications for financing climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Maasdorp will touch upon some of the recommendations of the recent report of the G20 Expert Panel on Strengthening the Multilateral Development Finance System as well as the debates behind the recommendations. He will draw on his decades of experience in national and multilateral development finance and participation in ongoing reforms to speak about the priorities for multilateral development finance in the coming years.

Over the past 25 years, Maasdorp has occupied senior leadership roles in both private and public sectors. Most recently he served as a Managing Director and President of Bank of America Merrill Lynch for Southern Africa for a period of four years. Prior to that he served in a dual role as Vice Chairman of Barclays Capital and Absa Capital. In 2002 he was the first African to be appointed as International Advisor to Goldman Sachs International. Before his 13 years as a global investment banker, he served in several senior leadership roles in the government of South Africa. In 1994, after the transition to democracy, he was appointed as Special Advisor to the Minister of Labour and in 1999, in his role as Deputy Director General of the Department of Public Enterprises, he led the restructuring and privatization of state-owned enterprises for the South African Government. He is a former Chairman and CEO of Advtech, a leading provider of private education in South Africa. Maasdorp is a young global leader of the World Economic Forum.

The event is open to the Yale campus community with Yale ID. Registration is required.