Robert Bond

Chief of Party, USAID Financial Sector Transformation Project   

Robert Bond is Chief of Party (COP) for the $23 million USAID Ukraine Financial Sector Transformation Project, 2016 – 2020.  The core components of the Project are; capital and commodity markets development; SME access to credit; digital financial solutions; financial consumer protection and financial awareness; communication and public outreach; and pension system reform.

From September 2010 through December 2012, Dr. Bond was the COP for the highly successful USAID Ukraine Financial Sector Rehabilitation Project (USAID/FINREP), implemented by Booz Allen Hamilton. This three-year, $12.4 million project helped Ukraine implement financial sector reforms to lessen its vulnerability to external financial shocks and to increase the adoption of international standards of disclosure, transparency, and financial market regulation. Prior to assuming the duties of COP for Ukraine FINREP, Dr. Bond had more than a decade of direct experience supporting the development of Ukraine’s capital markets. From 1996 to 2009, he directed four consecutive financial sector reform projects for USAID: Securities and Stock Market Development, Legal and Regulatory Reform of Financial Markets, Capital Markets Development, and Corporate Governance.

Dr. Bond was a founder and President Financial Markets International (FMI, 1992 2012), a consulting firm that focused on capital and commodity markets development work for USAID, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank the International Development Bank, and private clients.

Prior to founding FMI, Dr. Bond was a Principal at CARANA Corporation, a consulting firm that focused mainly on trade and investment facilitation (competitiveness) and building capital markets in Latin America. From 1989 to 1992, he managed the $12.5 million BOLINVEST program for USAID/Bolivia, which provided export and investment assistance to the Bolivian government and private sector to increase competitiveness. Earlier in his career, at First National Bank of Chicago, he had primary responsibility for sovereign credit risk assessment on Latin American debt, and participated with senior bank management in country risk ratings worldwide that drove credit decisions.

Before joining the banking and development consulting fields, Dr. Bond was a well-known scholar and expert in Latin American development. He was an Associate for Latin America at the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, and directed the Latin American Studies activity at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.  Dr. Bond holds a Ph.D in political science from Vanderbilt University and is fluent in Spanish.