Jyrki Koskelo, a Finnish national, is IFC’s new Vice President, Africa, Global Financial Markets, and Funds, and a member of IFC’s Management Group. He oversees IFC’s business in Africa and provides leadership to the departments serving Global Financial Markets as well as Private Equity and Investment Funds. With the financial markets portfolio accounting for nearly half of IFC’s investments, and with Africa having the heaviest concentration of frontier and IDA countries, the vice presidency places a greater emphasis on these strategic priorities.

Prior to this assignment, Mr. Koskelo was IFC’s Director for Global Financial Markets, where, from April 2004, he led the significant expansion of IFC’s business in housing finance, microfinance, insurance, and banking. He also led the launch and successful implementation of the IFC Global Trade Finance Program, sustainability finance, and SME financing, particularly in frontier markets. Previously he served as Director of Special Operations, where he had responsibility for managing IFC’s restructuring and recovery operations during the Asian, Argentine, and Russian crises.

Mr. Koskelo has had extensive experience globally across sectors including manufacturing, infrastructure, and extractive industries. He has also held responsibilities in Central and Southern Europe, where he served as IFC’s Country Anchor for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

Prior to joining IFC, Mr. Koskelo spent more than 10 years in senior management positions in the private sector, including as Managing Director of Georeda Ltd., a large engineering company in Saudi Arabia with six branch offices, and as Vice President of Finance for Geo-Hydro, Inc. in Rockville, Maryland, a high technology company he cofounded.

Mr. Koskelo holds a Master of Science degree in International Management/Finance from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Helsinki, Finland.