Mr Torgny Holmgren, SIWI

As of September 2012, Mr Torgny Holmgren is SIWI’s Executive Director. In his previous position as Ambassador at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Head of the Department for Development Policy, Mr Holmgren was responsible for policies on global sustainable development. Mr Holmgren has recently served as Sherpa for Minister Gunilla Carlsson in the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Global Sustainability.

Mr Torgny Holmgren is an economist from Stockholm School of Economics with experience from the Swedish Government Offices, as well as international organisations. Mr Holmgren has earlier worked at the Ministries of Finance and Industry in Stockholm. In 1995-2000, Mr Holmgren served at the Board of Directors and the Research Department of the World Bank in Washington DC, where he managed and edited the book “Aid and Reform in Africa”. Mr Holmgren was Vice Chair of OECD Development Assistance Committee in 2001, and in 2001-2002, he was assigned to the Parliamentary Commission on a new Swedish Policy for Global Development. Mr Holmgren was Head Secretary of the international Expert Group on Development Issues (EGDI) 2002-2006, which produced state-of the art research reports on global development topics, e.g. on transboundary water co-operation. Mr Holmgren has worked at the Swedish Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and has country experience from Africa, Asia, East Europe and North America.