Barbara Samuels

Background

About Barbara Samuels

Dr. Samuels is recognized as a global expert in international finance, country risk, and credit management with over thirty years experience. Dr. Samuels is the Founder and Executive Director of the Global Clearinghouse for Development Finance (GlobalDF), a non-profit initiative launched at the 2002 United Nations Financing for Development (FfD) Conference with the objective of devising innovative technical approaches to help mobilize the private sector for development. Prior positions include: Chase Manhattan Bank's Director of Country Assessment, where she was responsible for managing US$50 billion of country risk exposure worldwide; Managing Director of Moody's Emerging Markets Service (developing a joint venture with the IFC); advisor to major investors in developing countries (over US$ 2 billion in transactions); President of the Association of Political Risk Analysts; and Project Director of the Council on Foreign Relations' Roundtable on “Country Risk in the Post Asia Crisis: Identifying Risks, Strategies, and Policy Implications.” Formerly Vice Chair of the United Nations FfD Business Steering Committee, since 2001 Dr. Samuels has been actively involved in developing specific strategies aimed at mobilizing private sector capital for development. In support of FfD, she developed “FfD Tools” for increasing the capacity of public-private sector collaboration. She has also served as Senior Advisor to the World Economic Forum from 2004 - 2006, developing specific recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness of the official sector in harnessing the private sector for development.