Speaker details

Biography

Christopher Stephens is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the World Bank Group. He oversees the Group’s legal functions, consisting of approximately 400 professionals located around the world. He is responsible for overall coordination and support on legal aspects of the Operational Activities of the World Bank, including lending, advisory services, country engagement, operational policies, development finance, trust funds and partnerships, and sanctions and anti-corruption. He is also responsible for legal aspects of the corporate finance functions, financial risk, financial reporting, treasury functions, capital markets issuances, asset management, litigation and corporate investigations, and provides legal advice on human resources, procurement, information technology, ethics and external affairs. Mr. Stephens is the principal advisor to the Board of Governors, the Board of Directors, the World Bank Group President, and other members of the Senior Management Team on matters of law and policy. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Stephens was Vice President and General Counsel of International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, since September 2019. Prior to that, he was General Counsel of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Managing Partner for Asia and a member of the Management Committee of U.S. law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Mr. Stephens has a BA degree from Colgate University and a Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School.