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Creating Opportunity Where It's Needed Most
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About IFC
About IFC > Organization
Management Team - Karin Finkelston
KARIN FINKELSTON
Vice President, Asia Pacific
Karin Finkelston is IFC’s first Vice President focused on Asia Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, Ms. Finkelston heads IFC's business across the Asia Pacific region, leading a team of 530 staff working across 20 countries. Her responsibilities include overseeing IFC’s investment and advisory programs as well as maintaining relationships with key government and private sector clients and stakeholders in Asia Pacific. Ms. Finkelston is also a member of the Management Team. Prior to her appointment as vice president on July 1, 2011, Ms. Finkelston was IFC’s Director for East Asia and Pacific, a position she held since August 2008. Under her leadership, IFC increased development impact in the region while raising the institution’s profitability. During her tenure, she doubled the investment volume from around $1 billion before 2008 to close to $2 billion in fiscal year 2011.
Her particular focus has been East Asia Pacific’s frontier regions, with more than half of IFC's investments supporting private-sector development in the poorest countries. By leveraging IFC's investment and advisory products, Ms. Finkelston committed IFC to expanding the private sector's role in reducing climate change, while promoting sustainable urbanization, inclusive rural growth, and access to finance in rural areas across East Asia and the Pacific.
Ms. Finkelston joined IFC in 1996 and was appointed Country Manager China and Mongolia in 2000. Under her leadership, IFC launched its China Advisory Services Program based in Chengdu and grew the investment program to $650 million annually. The program linked advisory services with equity investments that catalyzed international standards in local companies and banks while increasing shareholder value. In 2006, Ms. Finkelston moved to Hong Kong as Associate Director East Asia and Pacific with responsibility for the investment program.
Prior to joining IFC, Ms. Finkelston worked at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co. in New York and Hong Kong and KPMG Consulting in Hanoi, Vietnam. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Dartmouth College.
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