Dilip Ratha
dratha@worldbank.org

Mr. Ratha is a Lead Economist in the Development Prospects Group of the World Bank. A recognized expert on migration, remittances, and innovative financing, he is the author of the article “Workers’ Remittances: An Important and Stable Source of External Development Finance,” a lead author of the World Bank flagship Global Economic Prospects 2006: Economic Implications of Remittances and Migration, and edited volumes Remittances: Development Impact and Future Prospects. According to a New York Times article, “No one has done more than Mr. Ratha to make migration and its potential rewards a top-of-the-agenda concern in the world’s development ministries.” He has advised many governments and played a leading role in international and inter-governmental forums including the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the G8 Global Remittances Working Group, and World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on migration. Reflecting his deep interest in financing development in poor countries, he recently edited Innovative Financing for Development featuring his work on shadow sovereign rating, diaspora bonds, and future-flow securitization. A sought-after speaker, he is frequently interviewed in leading TV, radio and print media. He also hosts People Move, a widely-read blog. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked as a regional economist for Asia at Credit Agricole Indosuez; an assistant professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; and an economist at the Policy Group, New Delhi. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi.

Sonia Plaza
splaza@worldbank.org
Sonia Plaza is a Senior Economist in the Development Economics Prospect Group of the World Bank. She has worked on Science and Technology projects in Latin American. In the Africa region, she co-authored a major analytical survey of migration and development. Ms Plaza also worked at the Chase Manhattan Bank and at the Peruvian Ministry of Trade as a manager responsible for trade and debt swap agreements. She has a dual degree from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania in International Economics and Development. She has published on migration, remittances, mobilizing the diaspora for trade, investment and technology transfer.

Neil Ruiz
nruiz@worldbank.org
Neil G. Ruiz is a Migration Specialist with the Development Prospects Group and a Non-Resident Fellow at The Brookings Institution. He has migration policy research experience as a consultant for the Asian Development Bank and the Migration Policy Institute. He was also the founding head of the Brain Gain Network in Boston that spearheaded several entrepreneurial initiatives in his parent’s home country, the Philippines, including the Philippine Emerging Startups Open (PESO) that linked MIT and Silicon Valley Filipinos to the Philippines to identify, mentor, and provide seed-funding for technology startups. Ruiz received his B.A. in Political Science with High Honors and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.Sc. in Economic History from Oxford University, and he will be receiving his Ph.D. in political science from MIT. Mr. Ruiz has published papers on protecting migrant workers, the responsibilities of migrant sending country governments, and temporary worker programs.

Ani Rudra Silwal
asilwal@worldbank.org
Ani Silwal joined the Migration and Remittances team in April 2009 as an Extended Term Consultant and has been with the World Bank since April 2008. He has worked on microfinance in Nepal, on which he wrote his undergraduate thesis. Before graduate school, he worked as a financial analyst for Exelon Corporation, PA. He received a Bachelors in Economics with High Honors from Swarthmore College and an MS in Applied Economics from the University of Maryland. He also attended the last two years of high school at the United World College in Norway.