December 2019
R.M. Michael Tene (YLP ’03), Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for Community and Corporate Affairs
Michael Tene joined the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in 1994 and has 25 years of experience serving in various roles in the Ministry. He took office as the new Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) of ASEAN for Community and Corporate Affairs on 2 September 2019. In this role, Michael supports the Secretary-General of ASEAN in providing strategic direction and guidance on Community and Corporate Affairs, Legal Services and Agreement, and Programme Cooperation and Project Management. Michael obtained his BA from the Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia in 1992 and graduated from the Young Leaders Program at GRIPS with a Master in Public Administration in 2003.
…Read more about R.M. Michael Tene here
November 2019
Michael A.K. Senayah (IDS ’08), Minister Counsellor (Trade and Investment), Ghana Embassy in Japan
Michael obtained his bachelor’s and M.Phil degree in the field of food science and biochemistry from the University of Ghana in 2001. He started his career in the Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2004. During his time in the International Development Studies Program at GRIPS he focused on the WTO-SPS Agreement which is dealing with the application of food safety and animal and plant health regulations. After his return to Ghana, he continued working is this area for several years. In 2014, Michael was appointed as Program Director and Imprest Administrator of TRAQUE Ghana, a project that aimed to facilitate and stimulate trade-led growth through improving the trade related capacity and performance and the transformation of the National Quality Infrastructure. In April 2019, Michael returned to Japan where he is currently serving as Minister-Counsellor at the Embassy of Ghana in Tokyo.
…Read an interview with Michael A.K. Senayah here
October 2019
Akhadbek Khaydarov (TE ’02), Deputy Minister of Finance, Republic of Uzbekistan
Akhadbek is a leading figure in financial policy-making in Uzbekistan. He joined the Uzbek Central Bank in 1996 as a junior economist. In less than 4 years time he had worked his way up and was appointed Head of the Monetary Policy Department in 1999. He subsequently moved to the Ministry of Finance where he served in several roles in the Department of State Budget and the Department for Financing the Social Sphere and Science, before being selected for studies the IMF-sponsored Transition Economy Program at GRIPS in 2000. In 2007, Akhadbek returned to the Central Bank where he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Board in 2013. Except for a brief appointment as Head of the Assets Management Agency between April and September 2019, Akhadbek has been serving as Deputy and First Deputy Finance Minister since 2017.
…Read more about Akhadbek Khaidarov
September 2019
Dahlia Tawakol (PP ’11), Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs & Deputy Director of Institute for Diplomatic Studies, Arab Republic of Egypt
Dahlia is a career diplomat. She joined the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs after her graduation from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science of Cairo University in 1992. She worked in several roles in the Ministry and enrolled in the Public Policy Program in GRIPS in 2009 when she was accompanying her husband to Tokyo where he was posted as Ambassador of Egypt. Dahlia served as Consul in the Consulate General in London from 2012 to ’16 and was appointed in her current position as Deputy Director at the Institute for Diplomatic Studies in 2018.
…Read an interview with Dahlia Tawakol
August 2019
Shirantha Heenkenda (PP ’09), Professor & Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
Prof. Shirantha Heenkenda was inaugurated as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura on 1st July, 2019. The Former Head of the Department of Economics and Co-Chairperson of the Innovation, Invention and Venture Creation Council, Shirantha obtained his BA degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, his Master in Public Policy from GRIPS and a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Development at Nagoya University. In addition, he has worked as consultant and committee member in many projects initiated by the Sri Lankan government and served on the Board of Directors of the National Livestock Development Board (NLDB) of Sri Lanka.
…Read an interview with Shirantha Heenkenda
July 2019
May Toe Win (TE ’03), Director General, Foreign Exchange Management Department, Central Bank of Myanmar
Daw May Toe Win was appointed Director General of the Foreign Exchange Management Department of the Central Bank of Myanmar in January 2018, after previously leading the Financial Institutions Regulation and Anti-Money Laundering Departments. May Toe joined the Central Bank in the Accounts Department in 1993, after graduating from Yangon Institute of Economics and has gradually worked her way up in the organisation. She was seconded as Advisor to the Executive Director to the International Monetary Fund in Washington from 2016 to 2017. May Toe is highly respected by many and has even been mentioned by “Frontier Myanmar” as a potential future candidate for Governor of the Central Bank.
…Read an interview with May Toe Win
June 2019
Md. Bayazid Sarker (TE ’10), Deputy General Manager, Bangladesh Bank
Md. Bayazid Sarker is a Deputy General Manager in the Foreign Exchange Policy Department of the Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh. He joined the Bank in 1999 and has worked in several areas, including public debt management, risk management, banking regulation and policy research. He has published many papers and developed a theoretical structure of the ‘migrants’ sponsored banking system for developing economies like Bangladesh. This idea has become the basis for a new type of banking system, named NRB (Non-Resident Bangladeshis) bank for which Mr. Sarker was awarded a gold medal (the highest performance award) in the Bangladesh Bank in 2015. In addition to his work for the Bank, he also teaches at Southeast University and Northern University Bangladesh, as an adjunct faculty.
…Read an interview with Md. Bayazid Sarker
May 2019
Yuan Zhang (Asian Economic Policy Program ’11), Writer, Photographer, Singer
Yuan Zhang graduated from Tsinghua University and worked for the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics for more than 10 years before becoming a diplomat in 2014. In her free time, she was an avid photographer and writer of essays and fiction. Her photos were shown at several international exhibitions and art festivals and her writings published in “LifeWeek”, one of China’s most popular weekly magazines. Encouraged by her success, after finishing her posting in Athens she decided to follow her long-standing dream of becoming a professional writer, photographer, and sometimes singer. Since then, she has published three books in which, among others, she reflects on her experience while studying at GRIPS when the Great East Japan Earthquake struck Japan in March 2011.
…Read an interview with Yuan Zhang
April 2019
Hillary Kumwenda (PP ’11), Chief Executive Officer, The Biosecurity Authority of Fiji
Hillary is a highly skilled development professional with knowledge and practical experience in multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations and implementation, trade facilitation, investment promotion and protection agreements and other areas of international trade. He started his career as an Economist in the Zambian Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry in September 2005 where he gradually worked his way up, while further enhancing his skills and knowledge through further education and specialized training programs. In 2014, Hillary joined the Commonwealth Secretariat Hub and Spokes Programme as Trade Policy Adviser and was attached to the Fijian Government in the Pacific where he worked with the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade in advancing Fijiʼs international trade and development. In April 2017, he was appointed CEO of the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji.
…Read an interview with Hillary Kumwenda
March 2019
Leszek Jodlinski (YLP ’07), Director, Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom, Poland
Trained as an art historian and a graduate of the Polish National School of Public Administration, Leszek has been managing cultural institutions for over 15 years. He served as Director of the Museum in Gliwice (2003-2008) and the Silesian Museum in Katowice (2008-2013) before moving to the Czech museum in Opava in 2013. In 2016, Leszek was appointed as Director of the Upper Silesian Museum in Bytom. In this capacity he was also responsible for managing and overseeing the construction of the new museum building. Leszek gained considerable attention with a project he initiated that aims to make painting galleries accessible to the visually impaired. He has authored many publications and articles on the history of art and lectures at the University of Silesia and Jagiellonian University.
…Read an interview with Leszek Jodlinski
February 2019
Gulnara Kireyeva (YLP ’07), Deputy Chairman, JSC “Kazakhstan Sustainability Fund”
Gulnara started her career with the National Bank of Kazakhstan after finishing her internship there in 1998. During her 20+ years with the Bank, she has served in many different roles and has developed a diverse set of professional skills and broad knowledge of the financial sector. Her valuable experience has enabled her to gradually advance in her career; Gulnara is serving as Deputy Chairman of JSC “Kazakhstan Sustainability Fund”, a subsidiary of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, since September 2017. Gulnara holds a degree in International Foreign Exchange and Finance from the Kazakh State Academy of Management (1998) and received her Master of Public Policy from the Young Leaders Program at GRIPS in 2007.
…Read an interview with Gulnara Kireyeva
January 2019
Sachiko Kondo (IDS ’03), Natural Resource Management Specialist, Environment & Natural Resources Global Practice, The World Bank, Washington D.C.
Sachiko Kondo is working as a Natural Resources Management Specialist at the World Bank (WB), engaged with fisheries, forestry, and biodiversity projects in Africa. Sachiko started her career at the World Bank in the Liberia Country Office in 2011, then moved to the headquarters in Washington D.C. in 2015. Before joining the Bank, Sachiko was working as a consultant for Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and previously for Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) supported projects in Asia and Africa. Sachiko has a Bachelor of Science in Regional Economics and Resource Science from the Agriculture Department of the University of Tokyo, and a Master of International Development Studies from GRIPS.
…Read an interview with Sachiko Kondo
