Our Common Humanity in the Information Age. Principles and Values for Development

Katherine Sierra, Vice President, The World Bank
Katherine Sierra has been World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development since 
July, 2006. The Vice Presidency has overall responsibility for the Bank’s work in 
environment and natural resource management, social development, and science and 

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200 | Our Common Humanity in the Information Age 
technology policy, as well as for agriculture and rural development, transport, water, 
energy, and urban policies and strategies. As Vice President, Ms. Sierra also has joint 
management responsibility with the International Finance Corporation for global product 
groups working in information and communications technology and in oil, gas, 
chemicals, and mining.
Sierra chairs several international consultative groups. These include the Consultative 
Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR); the World Bank/WWF Alliance 
for Forest Conservation and Sustainable Use; CEPF (the Critical Ecosystem Partnership 
Fund); the Cities Alliance; ESMAP (the Energy Sector Management Assistance 
Programme); and the Water and Sanitation Program.
Sierra is an urban planning specialist by training. She joined the World Bank in 1978 and, 
over the next 15 years, worked extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean as a 
transport and environment economist and project officer. In 1993 she joined the China 
and Mongolia Department as Chief of the Environment and Urban Development 
Division. She was appointed Director of the Bank’s Operational Core Services network 
in 1997 and Vice President of Operational Core Services in 1999. In 2000, Ms. Sierra 
was named Vice President, Human Resources, and in 2004 she was appointed Vice 
President of Infrastructure.
Sierra, a U.S. national, holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional planning from 
Harvard University and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Anthropology and Hispanic 
Civilization from the University of California at Santa Barbara.