Central bank board: good governance, resilience and strengthening independence

Born 1953, Mr. Grønn holds a graduate degree in economics (cand.oecon. 1979) from the University of Oslo. Work experience since 1980 includes vfarious positions at Norges Bank, including Director of International Department, Director of Statistics Department, and Special Advisor to the Governor. Mr. Grønn spent altogether eight years at IMF’s Executive Board in Washington DC, as Senior Advisor (1989-1992), Alternate Executive Director (2011-2013) and Executive Director (2013-2016), as well as one year at the ECB in Frankfurt as national central bank expert, monetary policy (2005-2006). He retired from his position at Norges Bank in July 2021, and continued as a consultant at the Bank on a part-time basis until December 2023.

Marko Škreb is a former governor of the Croatian National Bank. Currently he is Central banking lead on a Financial sector reform project (FINRA) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, financed by USAID. Before that he was resident project manager for Canada-IMF Capacity building project at the National Bank of Ukraine. He moved to Kyiv from his position as advisor at the International Monetary Fund’s Regional Technical Assistance centre in Accra, Ghana.  Before that, he was chief economist and strategist at the second largest commercial bank in Croatia. Mr. Skreb started his professional career teaching at the University of Zagreb. Following academic vocation he joined the Croatian central bank, first as research and statistics director and later on as governor (from 1996 to 2000). In 1997 he was awarded the Central European Annual Awards for Excellence - Best Central Bank Governor by the Banker. Since 2000 he worked as a consultant for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in numerous countries, mostly in South-East Europe. He also worked at the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF in Washington DC in the period 2004-2005. Mr Škreb published a number of articles and edited books, focusing on transition questions and financial issues.

Douglas W. Arner is the Kerry Holdings Professor in Law, RGC Senior Fellow in Digital Finance and Sustainable Development and Associate Director of the HKU-Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy at the University of Hong Kong. In addition, he is Associate Dean (Taught Postgraduate and Development) of the Faculty of Law at HKU and co-founder and former Director of HKU’s Asian Institute of International Financial Law, as well as Faculty Director and co-founder of the LLM in Compliance and Regulation, the LLM in Corporate and Financial Law, the Law, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (LITE), and the East Asian International Economic Law and Policy Programmes. Douglas served as Head of the HKU Department of Law from 2011-2014, as Director of the Duke University-HKU Asia America Institute in Transnational Law from 2005-2016, and as an inaugural member of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council from 2013-2019. He is a Visiting Professor and Senior Visiting Fellow of Melbourne Law School of the University of Melbourne, a Visiting Professorial Fellow of the Faculty of Law of UNSW Sydney, a non-executive director of NASDAQ and Euronext listed biotechnology firm Aptorum Group, an Advisory Board Member of the Global Impact FinTech (GIFT) Forum, Policy 4.0 and of the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), and co-founder and an executive board member of the Asia Pacific Structured Finance Association. In 2020 he was awarded an inaugural Hong Kong Research Grants Council Senior Fellowship to study the role of digital finance in financial inclusion and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Douglas has published eighteen books and more than 200 articles, chapters and reports on international financial law and regulation, including most recently Reconceptualising Global Finance and its Regulation (Cambridge 2016) (with Ross Buckley and Emilios Avgouleas) and The RegTech Book (Wiley 2019 (Janos Barberis and Ross Buckley). His recent papers are available on SSRN at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=524849 , where he is among the top 50 authors in the world by total downloads, as well as among the top 15 law authors. Douglas led the development of Introduction to FinTech – launched with edX in May 2018 and now with over 100,000 learners spanning almost every country in the world – and the foundation of the edx-HKU Online Professional Certificate in FinTech. In addition, he has served as a consultant with, among others, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN, APEC, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He has lectured, co-organised conferences and seminars and been involved with financial sector reform projects around the world. Douglas has been a visiting professor or fellow at Duke, Harvard, the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, IDC Herzliya, McGill, Melbourne, National University of Singapore, University of New South Wales, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Zurich, among others.

Ms Sharmyn Powell has been employed at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for over 25 years and currently holds the position of Chief Risk Officer.  She leads the Office of Corporate Strategy and Risk Management with responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management, Compliance, Strategic Plan development and monitoring and Business Continuity Management. 

Prior to assuming this role, she served in various capacities at the Bank including, Deputy Director, Accounting Department, Director, Currency Management Department and Director, Support Services Management Department.  She is the Chairperson of the Bank’s Fintech Working Group, which is leading the implementation of the DCash Pilot Project for the issuance of a block-chain based digital version of the EC Currency. 

Ms Powell is a Certified Accountant (ACCA), and also carries the designations of Chartered Director (C. Dir) and Audit Committee Certified (A.C.C). 

Holding a College degree in Mathematics, and two MBAs in Systems Analyses I have been working for the Information Technology Department of the Central Bank of Brazil since 1993, becoming the Head of the Information Technology Department in April 2019. I work at Central Bank of Brazil for 29 years and I am the Head of the Information Technology Department since April 2019.

Kenneth Sullivan's central banking career is built around periods as a senior financial sector expert with the International Monetary Fund and seven years at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand as chief manager of both accounting and corporate services. During his tenure the RBNZ developed new reporting frameworks that won accounting prizes for their transparency and completed a fundamental reorganisation of the bank. Prior to that he provided a financial management information system consultancy, held senior accounting roles in insurance and wholesaling, and worked in education. He has written on issues of central bank financial reporting, capital adequacy, organisation and accountability. 2014 saw publication of the book Financial Independence and Accountability for Central Banks that he edited with Martina Horakova of Central Bank Publications. Whilst at the IMF he represented the IMF on the International Financial Reporting Standards Advisory Council for 7 years and provided advice to over 90 central banks along with a secondment to a London bank working on structured finance.

Varshaa Kutik joined BIS on 1 March 2022 as the first Diversity and Inclusion adviser. She has 16 years of experience in the D&I space and has worked across several industries. Prior to joining the BIS she was the APAC LEAD for D&I for Bank of America based in HK. Across her career she led D&I for the APAC & EMEA regions for Cargill, a Minnesota-based global leader in trading and distributing agricultural commodities. She also held a global role in Cargill driving learning, talent management, and D&I for one of Cargill’s 5 global businesses for over a year and was based in Minneapolis. Before Cargill, she was employed with Goldman Sachs in India and led their D&I efforts. She started her career in the ESG space and was responsible for the publication of the first Sustainability Report for Infosys, an Indian multinational corporation that provides business consulting, information technology, and outsourcing services. Varshaa has a master’s degree in Globalization and Development from Warwick University in the UK. She has lived and worked in 5 countries (India, UK, US, Singapore & Hong Kong) and she is currently based in Basel Switzerland.

Valda Frederica Henry is the Deputy Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. She is VF Inc.’s former Chief Executive Officer and Principal Trainer. She formerly served as a Senior Investment Officer at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and played an instrumental role in the restructuring of the Investment Unit and the development of the Investment Management Framework of the Bank. She has lectured in, among other subjects, Human Resource Management and Accounting and has extensive experience in organisational reviews, job analyses and job descriptions working with companies in the Caribbean and served as the Coordinator of the Administrative Reform Program of the Commonwealth of Dominica. She has served as a Mentor for Executive and Middle Managers in many sectors including banking, hospitality and utility. Valda is also a Global Human Resources and Organizational Development Expert who excels at collaboration, with very strong interpersonal, communications, leadership and decision-making skills. She has developed and led numerous multi-year personal and professional development programs for youth in Dominica as well as individuals and businesses throughout the Caribbean. She hosted a weekly radio and twice- monthly television programs on which she discussed solutions to challenges faced by businesses in the region. She wrote a Column, “Business and Life,” for the online newspaper, “Dominica News Online. Valda holds formal qualifications in Financial Analysis and Planning, Governance and Business Management. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds a PhD in Industrial Relations & Business, Masters of Business Administration, Bachelors in Management and Bachelors in Law. She is a Certified Global Professional in Human Resources, Society for Human Resource Management, Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) and an Accredited Director. She is also a Certified ProNet Trainer and a Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Practitioner and a Certified “Train the Trainer” for InfoDev and the Women Innovators Network in the Caribbean (WINC).