Member of the Board of Directors, Head of the Foundations and Quality Division
Jean-Luc Bernasconi was born in 1964 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland and completed his studies in economics at the University of Neuchâtel.
After starting his professional career in 1991 at the research department of a major bank, he worked as a development economist for the next 23 years, combining analytical, operational and management functions. He worked for the United Nations Development Program in Hanoi, Vietnam (1995–98) before joining the World Bank between 1998 and 2004, where he held the position of economist/senior economist both in Washington (focusing on West Africa) and later in the field (as senior country economist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina).
In 2004, Mr Bernasconi joined the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of the Swiss Confederation, where he headed the Macroeconomic Support Division before becoming head of operations for SECO’s Economic Cooperation and Development Division.
In 2012, Mr Bernasconi returned to the multilateral system as a division manager at the African Development Bank based in Tunis, where he was responsible for governance and economic reform programmes before moving back to the World Bank as lead economist for the Middle East and the North Africa region, still based in Tunis.
After finishing his deployment in Tunis, Mr Bernasconi joined the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in September 2015 as head of the Europe, Asia and Americas Division within the Humanitarian Aid Department. As of 1 May 2017, Mr Bernasconi was also deputy head of SDC Humanitarian Aid.
In September 2022, Mr Bernasconi was appointed Member of the Board of Directors and Head of the Foundations and Quality Division.
