Komal Mohindra
Komal is a senior taxation specialist with the World Bank Group, based in Washington DC. She leads the World Bank Group’s Business Taxation team and provides technical assistance to developing country governments on a range of tax administration and tax policy issues of relevance to businesses of all sizes, and her projects span all regions. Komal is a Canadian Barrister and Solicitor and also obtained her corporate tax certification from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Komal spent eight years working in the field of tax with the Toronto and London offices of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Michael Engleshalk
Michael is a senior private sector development specialist in the Bank’s global tax team. He is a tax lawyer and holds a doctorate (Ph.D) in law from the University of Munich, Germany. Before joining the World Bank Group in 1999 he was responsible for cooperation with non-member countries in the OECD’s Center for Tax Policy and Administration. He published several books and articles, primarily in the areas of small business taxation and international tax cooperation.
Richard Stern
Richard is the Global Program Lead for the Business Taxation Program for the World Bank Group, as well as co-leading the World Bank Group’s Tax Transparency Initiative. The Business Taxation Program works on reforming tax policy and administration to increase compliance by businesses of all taxpayer segments, including SMEs, as well as fostering tax transparency for the entire tax system. Before leading this group, Mr. Stern was the Regional Program Coordinator for Africa at FIAS. He has worked extensively in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as in Eastern Europe and Asia, leading studies of barriers to investment as well as designing action plans for governments—especially in the area of tax policy and administration. Before joining FIAS in 2003, Mr. Stern was an economist at the International Monetary Fund for 8 years, working mainly on post-Soviet countries, the Balkans, Central African countries, and post-conflict countries. At the IMF he worked on monetary and fiscal issues, as well as debt reduction under the HIPC initiative. Mr. Stern holds a Ph D in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley (1992), a MS in International Relations from Georgetown School of Foreign Service (1986), and a BA from Williams College (1983).
Sebastian James
Sebastian works for the World Bank group and is a Tax Specialist. Apart from the Taxation, he has worked in cross-cutting areas on Investment Policy and Special Economic Zones. He has advised over 30 countries on the design of their tax policy and tax administration with emphasis on improving their investment climate. He is the primary author of a Handbook of Tax Simplification and his research on Tax Incentives has been published widely. He is a former Indian Revenue Service officer and held senior positions in the India’s Tax Administration and Tax Policy between 1996 and 2002. In 2003, he completed the International Tax Program from Harvard Law School and subsequently completed his Masters in Public Administration in 2004 and PhD from Harvard University in 2007 with his research focusing on Tax Policy and Tax Administration in developing countries.
