Shomik Mehndiratta
Dr. Shomik Mehndiratta leads the World Bank’s Transport practice’s efforts related to climate change. In this role he provides technical and intellectual leadership to the Bank’s global efforts on low carbon transport systems as well as enhancing the climate resilience of transport infrastructure. He has been at the World Bank since 2002 and in the period 2007-2010 he lived and worked in China. Most of his work in the Bank has been working on urban mobility issues with clients in East Asia, South Africa and Latin America. He is co-editor and author of an edited book on Low Carbon Urban Development in China. Prior to the World Bank he worked at CRA International, a business and economics consulting firm, based out of Boston MA. Shomik is an Indian national, and holds a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley and a MBA jointly from INSEAD and China’s Tsinghua University.
Julie Babinard
Ms. Julie Babinard is a Senior Transport Specialist in the Transport and ICT Global Practice of the World Bank. Her research interests and publications focus primarily on social and environmental aspects of transport operations. As Gender Focal Point for her Practice, her work on gender has included providing technical guidance to project teams and to publications such as the World Development Report (WDR 2012) on Gender Equity and Development – the most recent Bank wide publication on gender issues for development; writing the World Bank Guidance Paper TP-28: Mainstreaming Gender in Road Transport Operational Guidance for World Bank Staff; leading research on the use of household surveys and impact evaluations for improving gender data relevant for transport operations; and leading capacity building activities on tools and expertise at World Bank events and with international partners. Ms. Babinard holds a Master in International Policy Studies from Stanford University with a background in environmental and natural resource economics. Prior to joining the Bank in 2001, she worked as a researcher for the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, California, and at the International Food Policy Research Policy (IFPRI), Washington DC. She is the Co-Chair of the Transport Research Board (TRB) Accessible Transportation and Mobility Committee.
Pierre Guislain
Pierre Guislain, a Belgian national, is since July 2014, the Senior Director for the Transport and Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) Global Practice at the World Bank, providing support to developing countries in improving their connectivity and competitiveness by linking people to markets, services and employment opportunities. Pierre was previously (2006-2014) the Director of the joint Bank-IFC-MIGA Investment Climate Department (CIC). In this position, he also served as co-director at IFC for Fragile and Conflict Affected countries. From 2001-2006, Pierre was the Manager of the Bank’s Global Telecommunications and ICT Sector division. He joined the Bank in 1983 and has served the World Bank in a range of capacities in the legal department, private sector development, Africa, Asia, and Middle East and North Africa regions. During that time, he spearheaded the creation of the private participation in infrastructure division, and established and managed a joint program with the European Commission on Private Infrastructure in the Middle East and North Africa. He holds an MPA in Economics and Public Policy from Princeton University, as well as a graduate degree in Belgian and International Law and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the Université Catholique de Louvain.
Bianca Bianchi
Bianca Bianchi Alves is an urban transport specialist at the World Bank, PhD in Transport Engineering from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil and has worked with the implementation of large transport infrastructure mainly in cities, such as Metros, BRTs, Road rings. She has been leading the implementation of several projects in the Bank in the same areas, and focuses on analytical work to support good decisions for sustainable transport. She has extensive academic experience on demand modelling and unreliability in urban transport.
Farhad Ahmed
Farhad Ahmed is a Senior Transport Specialist at the World Bank, currently based in Nepal. He is responsible for coordinating transport sector activities in Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Before joining the World Bank in 2010, he was the director of a UK consultancy. He has a combination of skills: he graduated as a civil engineer in Bangladesh and later obtained postgraduate degrees in transport studies and transport economics in Australia and the UK respectively. Using this background he has built up a wide range of experience in engineering, economics and social development areas predominantly, but not exclusively, in the transport sector in developing countries. Farhad has an acute interest in facilitating the use of transport by different disadvantaged groups including women and differently-abled people. This has led him to conduct the gender and transport study in Nepal.
