Frannie Léautier

Frannie Léautier
File:Frannie Léautier.jpg
Born	Moshi, Tanzania
Education	University of Dar es Salaam (BSc in Civil Engineering) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MSc in Transportation) (PhD in Civil Engineering)
Occupation(s)	Civil Engineer, International Development Finance and Banking Executive and Independent Board Member
Years active	1994 — present
Title	Independent Consultant

Frannie Léautier is a Tanzanian civil engineer, academic, and international finance and development consultant. She leads and helps organizations in the private, public, and not-for-profit spheres thrive in advanced and emerging economies. Dr. Léautier is known for her skills in operational management, transformational leadership, resource mobilization, and working with complex boards and multi-constituency governance structures, as well as representing and engaging with government and international organizations at the highest levels.

Early life

She was born in the northern Tanzanian town of Moshi, in the Kilimanjaro Region. She has three sisters and three brothers. At age three, her family relocated to Lushoto, a town in the Usambara Mountains. Growing up there, she was influenced by her grandfather, who inspired her to study physics and engineering. She was admitted to the University of Dar es Salaam, graduating in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Civil Engineering. She continued her studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she earned a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Transportation, graduating in 1986. She followed that up with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Civil Engineering, from 1987 to graduation in 1990.

Career

She engaged with the World Bank in 1992 on the strategy for infrastructure in the 1990s. She joined them full-time in 1994, working in Washington, DC, for the next 15 years. She worked in various roles, including as Director of Infrastructure for a year in 2000. For the next 12 months, in 2001, she served as the Chief of Staff to the President of the World Bank Group, at that time James Wolfensohn. For the last six years of her tenure at the World Bank from 2001 to 2007, she was in charge of the World Bank Institute.

After she left the World Bank, she co-founded the Fezembat Group, a consultancy partnership based in Castelnau de Montmiral, France, where she worked as the Managing Partner from 2007 until 2009.

From July 2009 until November 2013, she relocated to Harare, Zimbabwe, and worked as the Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation, a non-profit organization. She concurrently served as a Distinguished Professor at Sciences Po, Paris, from 2007 until December 2013.

In December 2013, she returned to Tanzania and served as the co-founder, partner, and chair of Mkoba Private Equity Fund, which invested in emerging opportunities in the African continent, working there for two-and-a-half years until June 2016.

Léautier left Mkoba to rejoin the Fezembat Group, where she continued as a strategic advisor. She served as vice-chair of the Board, the first independent board director and special advisor to the President, before eventually becoming TDB's Chief Operating Officer on September 1, 2018.

She took a stint at the African Development Bank (AfDB), serving as its Senior Vice President.

She joined TDB as its Chief Operating Officer in July 2018. In 2019, she became Executive Director for the Asset Management side of the Bank's business.

Léautier joined the UN Foundation in 2019 and began serving on the Board of African Risk Capacity Ltd in 2018.

Other leadership positions

Dr. Léautier served/serves as a board member on several regional and international organizations, including:

• Advisory Board Member - Institute for Security Studies
• Board Member – United Nations Foundation
• Board Member - Orca Exploration Group Inc.
• International Advisory Council Member - Institute for Integrated Transitions
• Member, Global Agenda Councils - World Economic Forum (WEF)
• Commissioner on the Economy and Climate - New Climate Economy
• Former Trustee - King Baudouin Foundation USA
• Chair, Risk and Audit Committee - African Risk Capacity (ARC)
• Founding Board Member, Uongozi Institute (Leadership Institute)
• Treasurer, Director at Large - African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)
• Visiting Committee Member, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation
• Former Board of Trustee - Women's World Banking
• Founding Member- Nelson Mandela Institute for Science and Technology
• Member - World Future Council
• Founding Member- Journal of Infrastructure Systems

Honors and awards

In 2019, Léautier received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, in acknowledgement of her work globally in infrastructure. In recognition for her contributions to Africa, she holds an Honorary Degree in Humane Letters from North Central College in Illinois, US.

In addition to winning various awards, including “Best Manager” and awards for excellence at the World Bank Group, she was repeatedly featured in the New African Magazine list of 100 most influential people in Africa. She earned the title of ‘Nkosuohemaa’, meaning ‘queen of development’ in the Ahanta language, which was given to her by the Agona people for her work in Ghana. She was recently recognized in the first volume of a book on African Women of Worth.

Publications and academia

Léautier is a well-recognized author and academic, having published books, articles, and papers in international development, leadership, regional issues like integration and trade, and the role of Africa in the world. She taught Masters-level courses and advised thesis students, and gave keynote lectures at Sciences Po, MIT, the Kennedy School at Harvard University, the New England Complex Systems Institute, Duke University and the University of Tokyo, among other institutions.

Selected publications

• Leadership in a Globalized World: Complexity, Dynamics and Risks
• Cities and Spaces of Leadership: A Geographical Perspective Book
• Development Drivers in Africa: Role of Innovation

Personal

She is fluent in French and English, with competency in Spanish and some knowledge of Arabic.

External links

Bank, African Development (24 January 2019). "Dr. Frannie Leautier appointed as Senior Vice-President of the African Development Bank Group". African Development Bank - Building today, a better Africa tomorrow.

• Plaatjes, Elton (1 September 2013). "Meet Dr Frannie Léautier – Africa's Queen of Development". Lagos: Ventures Africa Magazine. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
• [1]]
• "Announcement: Appointment of Dr. Frannie A. Léautier as Chief Operating Officer (COO) – Trade and Development Bank".
• "How we work". ISS Africa.
• "Dr. Frannie Léautier (Tanzania)". unfoundation.org. 29 October 2019.
• GmbH, finanzen net. "Dr. Frannie Léautier Joins UN Foundation Board of Directors | Markets Insider". markets.businessinsider.com.
• "Orca Exploration welcomes Frannie Leautier, Ebbie Haan and Carole Wainaina to its Board as Non-Executive Directors alongside David Ross named Chairman". talent4boards.com.
• "Frannie Léautier — IFIT - Institute for Integrated Transitions". www.ifit-transitions.org.
• [2]
• "Dr. Frannie Léautier is a KBFUS board member". KBFUS. 2 December 2015.
• "African Risk Capacity adds new expertise to Board of its insurance arm - Reinsurance News". 30 August 2018.
• "ARC Ltd Board of Directors – African Risk Capacity".
• "In Focus: Investing in Africa's Future and the Role of Private Equity – UONGOZI".
• "Board of Directors".</ref>
• "PRESS RELEASE | Women's World Banking Welcomes Four New Members to Board of Trustees". 24 October 2016.
• "Dr. Frannie Léautier".
• https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/engineering/about/news/honorary-degree-for-dr-frannie-leautier] Honorary degree for Dr Frannie Léautier]
• "Women of Influence - New African Magazine". newafricanmagazine.com.
• [3]
• "Dr Frannie Léautier". newafricanmagazine.com.
• "OVS | Video Detail". techtv.mit.edu.
• "Frannie Léautier". New England Complex Systems Institute.
• Léautier, Frannie (15 March 2014). "Leadership in a Globalized World: Complexity, Dynamics and Risks". Palgrave Macmillan UK – via www.palgrave.com.
• D'Alessandro, Cristina; Léautier, Frannie (15 March 2016). "Cities and Spaces of Leadership: A Geographical Perspective". Palgrave Macmillan UK – via www.palgrave.com.
• "Development Drivers in Africa: Role of Innovation | The African Capacity Building Foundation". www.acbf-pact.org.