ISUW 2022 Speaker

Mr. Ashok Lavasa is the Vice President for Private Sector Operations and Public Private Partnerships (VPPP) with the Asian Development Bank. Prior to joining ADB in September 2020, Mr. Lavasa was an Election Commissioner in India from January 2018 to August 2020, a constitutional position appointed by the President of India. Mr. Lavasa served for nearly four decades with various government agencies in India including as Union Finance Secretary, Secretary Environment & Climate Change and Secretary Civil Aviation. He also served as Additional Secretary and Special Secretary for Power. As a senior member of the Indian Administrative Service, Mr. Lavasa was associated with a broad array of public policy and program implementation initiatives covering the finance, power, environment and climate change, civil aviation, infrastructure, and tourism sectors. He led the official Indian delegation for climate change negotiations for the Paris Agreement at COP21. He is the author of a book ‘An Ordinary Life: Portrait of an Indian Generation’ published in July 2021 by Harper Collins. Earlier, he has authored a book titled An Uncivil Servant (Rupa: 2006) and has written several book chapters and academic papers covering climate change, economic policy, and energy. He completed M. Phil. from Madras University (India), MBA from Southern Cross University (Australia) and MA (English) from Delhi University (India).