Half of the EBRD's executive committee will leave the bank this year, opening up crucial vacancies in the institution's top management. The personnel movements coincide with a major overhaul of the bank's strategy that will take effect from next year.
Four of the bank's eight member senior management team are due to step down after completing their terms. Among them are first vice-president Noreen Doyle, who will leave the bank when her term expires in August, and Willem Buiter, the bank's chief economist, who is set to return to the London School of Economics around the same time.
"The institution has developed a very cohesive executive committee and the changes are taking place in the context of our agreed strategy," said Doyle in an interview yesterday with Emerging Markets. Doyle, who is leaving the bank after 13 years, is one of the longest serving EBRD staff in the bank's 14-year life-span.
Former vice-president Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz left last December. A replacement has been found but is yet to be announced. This month, Horst Reichenbach, a senior German official was nominated new secretary general of the EBRD, as a replacement for Johnny Akerholm. Akerholm left the bank in January to become president of Nordic Investment Bank.
An external firm has been appointed to search for a suitable candidate to succeed Doyle. "It will have to be a banker with very good work experience in emerging markets," she said. "You need someone who understands the opportunities and risks related to this type of market and who knows how to manage the transition from one economic model to another." Following tradition, Doyle's replacement will again be a US citizen.
Doyle decided to leave the bank in order to return to the private sector. "I consider myself a private sector person," she explained. Confirming that she will remain in London, Doyle said that her new appointment would be a portfolio rather than a single-issue job. "I have been approached for other executive positions and may explore that option," she added.
The EBRD is looking to expand its operations into south-east Europe and central Asia, where smaller projects, rather than large-scale privatizations are on the agenda. Smaller projects have often proved to be riskier, according to Doyle, while the financing requirements do not go down.
The new executives will have to meet the challenges posed by the new regions and the necessary adaptations to the EBRD's way of conducting business. "Many countries still lack precedent and implementation remains a key issue," said Doyle. A special challenge is posed by the creation of judicial systems for a functioning market economy.
Doyle's time at the EBRD was marked by the political and economic developments in the region. "It's been one of the great experiences and I am slightly saddened," she said. "I will miss it."