Frannie Léautier

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (August 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Frannie Léautier" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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.

Léautier 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.

Léautier 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.^[1]

Léautier engaged with the World Bank in 1992 on the strategy for infrastructure in the 1990s. She joined the organization full-time in 1994, working in Washington, DC, for the next 15 years.^[1] 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.^[2]

After she left the World Bank, Léautier 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, Léautier 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, Léautier 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.^[2]

In 2017, Léautier was one of the candidates to succeed Mark Dybul as executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM); the position eventually went to Peter Sands.^[3][2][4]

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.

Léautier took a stint at the African Development Bank (AfDB), serving as its Senior Vice President.^[5][2] She joined the Trade and Development Bank (TDB) in Nairobi as its Chief Operating Officer in July 2018.^[6][7] In 2019, she became Executive Director for the Asset Management side of the Bank's business.

In May 2020, The SouthBridge Group announced the appointment of Léautier as a senior partner.^[8] Prior to the announcement, she had successfully served as a non-executive Board member and Chairperson of the Group’s Board Risk & Audit Committee. As a senior partner, Léautier is responsible for new business development and will pursue the Group’s ambitious strategy of growth in markets with demand for advisory services as well as taking on responsibility for investment activities.

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

• United Nations Foundation, Member of the Board (since 2019)^[9]
• World Future Council, Member (since 2019)^[10]
• African Risk Capacity (ARC), Chair of the Risk and Audit Committee (since 2018)
• African Culture Fund (ACF), Member of the Board of Directors^[11]
• Institute for Security Studies, Member of the Advisory Board
• Orca Exploration Group Inc., Member of the Board
• Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT), Member of the International Advisory Council^[12]
• World Economic Forum (WEF), Member of the Regional Advisory Group for Africa
• Commissioner on the Economy and Climate - New Climate Economy
• Uongozi Institute (Leadership Institute), founding Member of the Board
• African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), Treasurer, Director at Large
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation, Visiting Committee Member
• Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, Founding Member
• Journal of Infrastructure Systems, Founding Member
• King Baudouin Foundation USA, former Member of the Board of Trustees^[13]
• Women's World Banking, former Member of the Board of Trustees^[2]

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.

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.

• 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

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

• Irene Tarimo – Tanzanian scientist, biologist and educator
• Mary Mgonja – Tanzanian agricultural scientist
• Fausta Shakiwa Mosha – Tanzanian scientist
• Joyce Msuya – Tanzanian microbiologist and environmental scientist

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

• 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". 27 August 2018.
• "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". 2 October 2014.
• "Board of Directors".
• "PRESS RELEASE | Women's World Banking Welcomes Four New Members to Board of Trustees". 24 October 2016.
• "Dr. Frannie Léautier".
• "Honorary degree for Dr Frannie Léautier". www.lancaster.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
• "Women of Influence - New African Magazine". newafricanmagazine.com. 9 June 2011.
• [3]
• "Dr Frannie Léautier". newafricanmagazine.com. 3 November 2012.
• "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.
• "Frannie Leautier | New Climate Economy | Commission on the Economy and Climate".
• "Arise Queen Léautier!". 13 June 2013.
• Hanson, Kobena T.; Leautier, Frannie (2013). "Jobless Economic Growth in Africa: Is There a Role for Agriculture?". Journal of African Development. 15 (2): 1–17. doi:10.5325/jafrideve.15.2.0001. JSTOR 10.5325/jafrideve.15.2.0001. S2CID 58924095.
• Léautier, Frannie A. (2012). "What Role for Africa after 50 Years of Independence: Provider of". Journal of African Development. 14 (1): 127–152. doi:10.5325/jafrideve.14.1.0127. JSTOR 10.5325/jafrideve.14.1.0127. S2CID 151238529.
• Ekekwe, Ndubuisi (29 February 2012). Disruptive Technologies, Innovation and Global Redesign: Emerging Implications: Emerging Implications. ISBN 9781466601352.
• "Frannie Léautier's scientific contributions".
• Léautier, Frannie (January 2006). Cities in a Globalizing World: Governance, Performance, and Sustainability. ISBN 9780821365540.
• Sinclair, Guy Fiti (16 February 2017). To Reform the World: International Organizations and the Making of Modern States. ISBN 9780191075445.
• Subramanian, Uma; Arnold, John (January 2001). Forging Subregional Links in Transportation and Logistics in South Asia. ISBN 9780821348857.