Our Team

Practice Manager of the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) at the World Bank

In this role, Gabriela oversees a global portfolio of analytical and advisory activities in the energy sector, as well as the Bank’s energy climate finance operations. 

Ms. Elizondo-Azuela, a Mexican national, joined the Bank in 2003.  Prior to assuming her current position at ESMAP, Gabriela worked in the Latin America and Caribbean Energy Unit and other various Energy units across regional and global teams, contributing to a range of innovative operations in the areas of energy access, clean energy, climate change and became the Global Lead for Clean Energy for the Global Practice. As the Global Lead, she has championed the introduction of innovative initiatives, most recently in the areas of digitalization of energy sector infrastructure and utilities of the future. Ms. Elizondo-Azuela has more than 25 years of professional experience in the environmental and energy fields with specializations in power sector reform, regulatory design, private sector development, power sector planning, renewable energy, and climate change.

Before joining the Bank, she worked for private consulting firms and academia.

Ms. Elizondo-Azuela is a graduate of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (MX) in Chemical Engineering, has a Master of Environmental/Water Resources Engineering degree from the University of Michigan (USA), a PhD of Energy Economics from Imperial College London (UK), and various postgraduate diplomas from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA).

Aditya is a member of the Accelerating Decarbonization team, and his work focuses on decarbonizing the public sector. Within the World Bank, Aditya has supported energy efficiency projects in Kosovo, Turkey, Poland, India, and Ghana. Prior to joining the World Bank, Aditya worked at McKinsey & Company, supporting energy sector clients mainly in decisions on strategy and operations. He holds a PhD and MSc in Land and Water Management and Civil Engineering from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria, where he worked as scientist, and a MSc in Natural Resources Management and Ecological Engineering from Lincoln University, New Zealand.

Alisha worked as an ESMAP consultant for the past 3 years, implementing the MTF surveys and country diagnostic reports in Nepal and Liberia, and supporting the development of the clean cooking agenda. More recently Alisha worked with the South Asia (Nepal) and East Africa (Uganda and Somalia) regional teams. As an Energy Specialist, Alisha will be part of the ESMAP Energy Access team, focusing on the newly-established Clean Cooking Fund.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Alisha was an Associate in Research at the Duke Household Health and Energy Initiative. She also worked at other research and consulting organizations such as the International Water Management Institute, EY-Parthenon Group, and Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations.

Alisha holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Sanford School of Public Policy (Duke University), and a BA in Economics from St. Xavier’s College (University of Mumbai).

Anders will focus on enhancing the ESMAP’s Energy Data Platform and will support ESMAP and operational teams in conducting socio-economic assessments of coal mine closure and coal power plants, among other activities.

Anders joins the World Bank from the World Resources Institute (WRI), where he served as Resource Watch Director, leading a multidisciplinary team that developed open data and geospatial tools to support energy and climate risk initiatives across programs and country offices throughout the institute.

Before WRI, he served as Senior Open Data Officer at Natural Resource Governance Institute where he worked with governments in countries such as Ghana, Tanzania, Tunisia, and the Philippines to increase transparency and improve fiscal governance in the extractives sector. Anders is a dual national of Denmark and the United States. He holds a MSc and a BSc in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen and has a Data Science Certificate from Georgetown University. During his studies, he completed additional coursework in law and political science at McGill University (Canada) and the University of Iceland. He is fluent in English and Danish. 

Anna’s primary area of focus is supporting ESMAP and World Bank regional operational teams on results monitoring, evaluation and knowledge management, as well as our reporting to donors and portfolio management functions.  Previously, Anna worked in the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) for over 4 years focusing on revamping PPIAF’s monitoring and evaluation system and fostering the culture of learning from the ongoing and completed projects for evidence-based and impactful design of technical assistance. Prior to joining the World Bank, Anna worked with the United Nations and National Democratic Institute country offices in Armenia, where she oversaw democratic governance, electoral participation and gender related projects. Anna holds an MA in Development Economics and Public Policy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University) and MA in International Affairs from Yerevan State University.

Ashish leads the Integrated Electrification Strategies & Planning team and is a member of the Mini Grids team at ESMAP. His work focuses on geospatial least-cost electrification planning and optimizing the rollout of grid, off-grid and mini grid solutions towards universal electricity access, including the development of the Global Electrification Platform. Ashish is responsible for the development of mini grid portfolio planning methodologies and their implementation in World Bank operations and is also supporting energy access projects in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Sudan. Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked at the public utilities commission in Massachusetts. Ashish holds a BA in Economics from Hamilton College and an MA in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University.

Besnik is part of ESMAP’s Energy Access team, focusing on electrification and innovative financing for expanding energy access. Within the World Bank, Besnik has provided technical support to projects related to off-grid electrification,  electricity demand stimulation, clean cooking, and economic analysis of electricity access projects. Prior to the Bank, Besnik was a researcher with the Natural Resource Governance Institute. Besnik holds a BA degree in International Relations from Stanford University and a MA in International Economic Policy from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. 

Brenda leads ESMAP’s Portfolio Team, including its monitoring and evaluation efforts. Brenda also serves as an advisor, supporting the ESMAP program manager in trust fund, financial, and partnership management. Previously, Brenda worked as a financial analyst of energy and transport projects in Russia and Central Asia. She has over 20 years of experience in portfolio reviews and assessments of outcome, institutional development impact, and sustainability of World Bank programs and projects, as well as trust funds, financial, and resource management.

Brenda holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a BS in Biochemistry/Biophysics from the University of Pittsburgh.

Bryan is part of the ESMAP SEforALL Knowledge Hub team, focusing on the Multi-Tier Framework. He also serves as the focal point for ESMAP’s work on geospatial electrification planning and supports Lighting Global activities. Previously, as a consultant, Bryan was a field coordinator for the Multi-Tier Framework energy access global survey in Rwanda, Uganda, Myanmar, and Cambodia; supported the power-agriculture nexus component in the Africa Geospatial Electrification Planning activity and an assessment of mini-grid operators in several countries; and was a member of the Nigeria electrification project team. Prior to this, Bryan worked in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region on energy subsidy reform and the impact of cross-subsidization on industrial competitiveness. Bryan holds two MAs in Public Policy and Political Science from Georgetown University (USA) and Kyunghee University (Korea).

Chandra leads the global battery storage program at the World Bank. The World Bank has made the commitment to accelerate deployment of battery storage in the developing world with an aim to finance 17.5 GWh of new battery storage in developing countries by 2025.

Chandra also leads the energy climate finance team which is responsible for mobilizing climate finance from Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), Green Climate Funds (GCFs) and other sources for the Energy and Extractives practice at the World Bank. He has over 20 years of experience between The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on energy efficiency, energy access, and renewable energy access across 15 countries in South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa.

Chandra holds a PhD in Energy and Environmental Policy from the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware.

Chong provides technical assistance and knowledge management support to the Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) Grid Integration Support initiative, focusing on power system analysis/planning and energy storage systems. He also supports the Power System Planning team, performing analysis for the network impacts of VREs, and several World Bank projects, assessing the technical requirements for VRE penetration. Prior to joining the World Bank, Chong worked for LS Industrial Systems, specializing in Energy Management Systems and Microgrids. Chong holds a PhD in Power System Engineering from Korea University.

Claire is a member of the power system planning team.  Her primary focus is to support the Africa program, as well as maintenance and development of the Electricity Planning Model and growing climate resilience-related work for energy infrastructure.

Before joining ESMAP, Claire worked in the Sustainable Development Chief Economist’s office for almost 2 years focusing on Climate Change mitigation and decision making under deep uncertainty. She provided cross-support to the Energy Global Practice, mostly on projects involving power planning, and to the Environment Global Practice to help teams and clients take long-term uncertainties into account in the preparation of projects and strategies.   Prior to the World Bank, Claire worked for four years in the oil refining industry as a strategic marketing engineer.

Claire holds a PhD in economics on “Robust energy and climate modeling for policy assessment’ from Nanterre University (France), an engineering degree from ENSTA ParisTech, and an M.Sc in Economics from Ponts ParisTech.

Claire is the author of a forthcoming book on “How much is needed? Infrastructure investment for sustainable development.”