Speaker(s): Kristalina Georgieva | Demands on development assistance have risen in recent years, with pandemics, refugee crises and regional conflicts. Kristalina Georgieva draws out lessons on securing financing to meet these demands. Kristalina Georgieva (@KGeorgieva) assumed her current position as the Chief Executive Officer for the World Bank on January 2, 2017. Previously, Georgieva, a Bulgarian national, helped shape the agenda of the European Union since 2010, first as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, where she managed one of the world's largest humanitarian aid budget and established herself as a global champion for resilience. As the European Commission Vice President for Budget and Human Resources, Georgieva was in charge of the European Union's €161 billion (US $175bn) budget and 33,000 staff across its institutions around the world. She tripled funding available to the refugee crisis in Europe and drove rapid progress towards achieving a target of 40 percent women in management by 2019 in order to improve the Commission's gender balance. Before joining the European Commission, Georgieva held multiple positions at the World Bank. In her most recent role as the Vice President and Corporate Secretary (2008-2010), she was the interlocutor between the World Bank Group’s senior management, its Board of Directors and its shareholder countries. In the wake of the 2008 international financial crisis, she played a key role in the World Bank's governance reform and accompanying capital increase. Simeon Djankov is Executive Director of the Financial Markets Group at LSE. The Financial Markets Group Research Centre (@FMG_LSE) was established in 1987 at the LSE. The FMG is a leading centre in Europe for policy research into financial markets. It is the focal point of the LSE's research communication with the business, policy making and international finance communities. The FMG works alongside the Department of Finance to understand problems in financial markets and in the decision-making processes of corporations, banks and regulators.