World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva to Speak at the 2017 ELI Environmental Achievement Award Dinner

September 2017

Washington, D.C.: The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is pleased to announce that Kristalina Georgieva, Chief Executive Officer for the World Bank, will be speaking at this year’s Environmental Achievement Award Dinner, where she and other esteemed members of the environmental community will be honoring Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, for his visionary leadership on global sustainability and rule of law in the environmental setting.

As CEO for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, the World Bank’s lending arms for middle-income and poor countries, Ms. Georgieva works to build support across the international community to help mobilize resources and develop more effective solutions for the poor at the scale required.

“ELI is honored to have Ms. Georgieva speak at this year’s award dinner,” said ELI President Scott Fulton. “Ms. Georgieva is a noteworthy figure in her own right, well known for her ability to build broad consensus and turn strategies into practice.”

Deeply knowledgeable in international development and finance, Ms. Georgieva is widely respected for her efforts to mobilize the international community to find innovative solutions to today's complex challenges. A Bulgarian national, Ms. Georgieva has helped shape the agenda of the European Union since 2010, first as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, where she managed one of the world's largest humanitarian aid budgets and established herself as a global champion for resilience. She also served as the European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources, where she tripled funding available to the refugee crisis in Europe and drove rapid progress toward achieving a target of 40 percent women in management by 2019 in order to improve the Commission's gender balance. Prior to joining the European Commission, Ms. Georgieva held multiple positions at the World Bank, including Vice President and Corporate Secretary (2008-2010) and Director for Sustainable Development (2007-2008).

The 2017 Environmental Achievement Award will be presented to Achim Steiner on October 18, 2017, in Washington, D.C.