John Roome

John Roome is leading climate change for the World Bank Group.

As Senior Director for Climate Change, John not only leads a team of specialists but works across the institution to advance the Bank Group’s climate change agenda.

Prior to this assignment he was Operations and Strategy Director for Global Practices and Cross Cutting Solutions at the Bank Group. He previously served as Director for Sustainable Development in the Bank’s East Asia Region, responsible for working with 22 client countries in the region in the water, urban, transport, energy, rural, agriculture, environment, and social sectors, as well as in disaster risk management and climate change.

John has also worked as Operations and Strategy Director in the Bank’s South Asia region and as Operational Quality Director in the Bank’s Africa region for about five years. He joined the Bank Group in 1989, working initially in Africa. There he focused mainly on infrastructure issues including roads programs, the aviation and water sectors and doing deals for the Bank Group’s private sector arm, IFC, in the banking, mining and agro-industry sectors.

Before joining the Bank Group, John worked in Europe for Monitor Company, a leading corporate strategy consulting firm, and at Old Mutual, a South African Life Assurance Company. He was educated at Oxford University, where he obtained Masters Degrees in Econometrics and in Management Studies, and the University of Cape Town where he obtained a Bachelors degree in Economics, Statistics and Actuarial Science.