After 15 years in the World Bank, Jean-Jacques Verdeaux, LLM '02, is joining the European Investment Bank (EIB) as a Procurement Advisor for its Energy Department, supervising procurement for some of the largest energy projects in the world. The EIB is the leading global financing institution by the size of its portfolio – and provides finance and expertise – for sustainable investment projects that contribute to European Union policy objectives, inside and outside of Europe. At the World Bank, Mr. Verdeaux was one of the leading procurement specialists in that institution, supervising some of its largest procurement operations in Latin America, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. Among the operations, he supervised the selection process for the construction of the Quito Metro in Ecuador, the Peru Lima Metro Line 2 project, and the Noor Ouarzazate Concentrate Solar Power Plant II and III in Morocco.
Before joining the World Bank, Mr. Verdeaux was a Procurement Legal Expert for the Taxation and Customs Directorate of the European Commission in Brussels, after several years as a Procurement Officer in the French Ministry of Finances in Paris.
Mr. Verdeaux has written extensively on the subject of international procurement and procurement of international organizations, and lectures regularly on these subjects around the world.
When asked about what motivated him in embracing a career in international procurement, he says, "I realized that there is little expertise in a field that represents between 15 percent and 20 percent of countries' GDP. I believe procurement makes a huge difference in achieving results and changes in people's lives around the world."