The FINANCIAL — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed Marvin Taylor-Dormond, formerly with the World Bank Group (WBG), as its new director-general of Independent Evaluation.
Mr. Taylor-Dormond has a long association with evaluation in a 26-year career in multilateral development banking, focusing over the past several years on private sector operations and sustainable development, according to ADB.
At the WBG’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), he headed the Financial, Private Sector and Sustainable Development Department (2015–2016) and the Private Sector Operations Department (2011–2015). He joined the WBG in 2006. Before that, Mr. Taylor-Dormond held senior posts at the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, where he established the bank’s capacities in the monitoring and evaluation of strategies, programs and projects, and was chief economist and head of evaluation from 2003–2006.
His appointment to head Independent Evaluation at ADB is for a single five-year term. He succeeds Vinod Thomas, who retired in August.
“ADB operates in one of the world’s most fascinating and challenging regions where both rapid and lagging development coexist,” said Mr. Taylor-Dormond. “For 50 years, ADB’s experience in Asia and the Pacific has generated many lessons on what works and what doesn’t in development. Applying these lessons to the projects that ADB supports in response to countries’ needs and making sure that we do the right things is vital for getting better results.”
Mr. Taylor-Dormond said that at ADB he wants to demonstrate, through evaluation findings, the institution’s contribution to the region’s development and help continue to improve it. His appointment comes at a time when ADB is preparing its new corporate framework and long-term strategy, Strategy 2030. “With my team, I hope to consolidate Independent Evaluation as a credible and reliable institutional source of knowledge and accountability, both internally and internationally.”
As well as overseeing evaluations, Mr. Taylor-Dormond has written on the role of evaluation in development, including as a contributing writer to Evaluating the World Bank Group’s Response to the Global Economic Crisis in Real Time, published in 2013, and has spoken at numerous international events on evaluation and development.
Mr. Taylor-Dormond is a national of Canada. He is a former finance vice-minister of Costa Rica, where he led the country’s most comprehensive tax and customs reform in the late 1990s, and has a PhD in public finance and economic development from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa.
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