Jean-Louis Sarbib, a French national, retired from 26 years in the World Bank in July 2006 and joined Wolfensohn and Company, L.L.C, where he is a Managing Director. He currently chairs the board of the Development Gateway Foundation; and serves on the boards of the GAVI Fund, the Micronutrient Initiative, and World Links. Mr. Sarbib is also a non-resident senior fellow at Brookings, where he is associated with the Wolfensohn Center for Development.
From 2003 to 2006, Jean-Louis was Senior Vice President, Human Development Network, overseeing the Bank’s investments in education health, social protection, and HIV/AIDS. In that capacity, he advised the institution and its client countries on innovative and integrated approaches to improving health, education, and social protection with a view to helping meet the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Mr. Sarbib represented the Bank on a number of global initiatives (GAVI -- Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, UNAIDS Committee of Co-sponsoring Organizations, Education for All Fast Track Initiative, Health Metrics Network, etc.) and served on a number of boards of international organizations involved in human development. After his retirement, Mr. Sarbib continued to chair the Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics until Novemebr 2006.
From 2000 to 2003, Mr. Sarbib was the World Bank’s Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa Region and managed operations that accounted for $1 billion (FY03) in new loans as well as Technical Cooperation Programs throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
From 1996 to 2000, Mr. Sarbib was the World Bank’s Vice President for Africa.
Mr. Sarbib joined the Bank in 1980 to work on Africa. After working for the French Ministry of Industry as Deputy Director of the Groupe de Reflexion sur les Stratégies Industrielles (1974-1977), Mr. Sarbib returned to the United States to teach at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Mr. Sarbib graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, before going on to the University of Pennsylvania to get a master’s degree in city planning. In 2006, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Ougadougou in Burkina Faso.
