Please do join our recent retirees as they use selected mission photos to reflect on their journey at the Bank working across traditional disciplines in an integrated watershed/basin context. Should provide many lessons for all of us – younger and older – as we advise clients on these issues. Grant and Rita bring a wealth of expertise and experience working on such issues across the world and mentoring younger staff in the process.
Presenters:
Grant Milne was a Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist in the Agriculture and Food Global Practice from early 2003 to early 2022 at the World Bank Group in Washington DC. He led or co-led dozens of lending and non-lending operations in natural resources management in South Asia and Africa, and was an advisor to many other teams, particularly on watershed management. For several years, Grant co-led the Bank’s Watershed Community of Practice and later the Global Solutions Group. He was also a peer reviewer on more than 120 panels for natural resources projects. Prior to joining the Bank in 2003, Grant lived and worked throughout Africa for 12 years, including five years as a technical advisor to the government of Zimbabwe on environmental management, and then as a private consultant to international donors and development banks. He also served on the Board of a major regional environmental NGO and was a co-founder and Board member of a local financial institution. From 1980 to 1991, Grant worked with the Canadian Forestry Service as a Chief Economist and Research Manager. He holds a BSc in Forestry and an MSc in Natural Resource Economics from University of Alberta (Canada), and a PhD in Natural Resource Economics and Policy from Edinburgh University in Scotland. After retiring in January 2022, Grant keeps busy raising his twin teenage girls, volunteering at a local food bank, mentoring several former counterparts in Nigeria, visiting family in Canada, and showing his girls a bit of the world.
Rita Cestti is a member of the 1818 Society, who retired from the World Bank in September 2021 after 32 plus years working on agriculture, environment, and water issues. During her career at the Bank, she served as a Technical Specialist, Thematic Group’s Co-Chair, Global Lead for Water for Agriculture, Advisor and Global Lead for Water and Climate, and Practice Manager for Water in the Latin America and Caribbean Region; and worked in more than 30 countries. She is currently providing consultancy and advisory services to the Water Global Practice to position water within the context of climate change and development. She holds a professional degree in Civil Engineering from the Pontificia Universidad Católica, Peru, and master’s degrees in Engineering Administration and Economics from the George Washington University, USA.
Chair: 
Ede Ijasz-Vasquez, Former Senior Director, The World Bank
Discussant: Nagaraja Rao Harshadeep (Harsh), Global Lead (Disruptive Technology), Environment, Natural Resources & Blue Economy Global Practice
Please do join us in person if possible for this hybrid event (both speakers should be here in person) or virtually if not!
Venue: J8-044
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