NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Leora Klapper is a Lead Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Research Team of the Development Research Group at the World Bank. Since joining the Bank as a Young Economist in 1998, she has published on entrepreneurship, banking, access to finance, corporate governance, bankruptcy, and risk management. Her current research focuses on consumer finance, digital payments, and measuring financial inclusion (Global Findex). Prior to coming to the Bank she worked at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Bank of Israel, and Salomon Smith Barney. She holds a Ph.D. in Financial Economics from New York University Stern School of Business.

Karina Broens Nielsen leads CGAP’s measurement, learning and evaluation (MLE) initiative. The MLE initiative works to improve awareness of emerging global and market level measurement, learning and evaluation practices for improved decision-making by financial inclusion stakeholders. Before joining CGAP, she worked at the Gates Foundation’s Financial Services for the Poor Team where she worked as a Program Officer, Measurement, Learning and Evaluation on Research, Innovation and Policy topics and investments. Prior to Gates, Karina worked with IFAD in the Near East and North African and in the East and Southern Africa where she designed, managed and led rural microfinance and agricultural finance programs and country strategies. Before joining IFAD, she worked as an Advisor to the European Commission’s delegation to the United Nations. She has a Master of Science in Public Administration (Candidata Scientiarium Administrationis) and a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration and Social Science from Aalborg University, Denmark and studied part of her degree at London Guildhall University in International Relations and Development.