Ayhan Kose is the Deputy Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Director of the Prospects Group. He is a member of the Chief Economist's leadership team overseeing the Bank's analytical work, and policy and operational advice. He also leads the Bank's work on the global macroeconomic outlook, financial flows, and commodity markets. Under his management, the Prospects Group produces the Bank's flagship reports Global Economic Prospects and Commodity Markets Outlook, in addition to other policy and analytical publications. Prior to joining the World Bank, he was Assistant to the Director of the Research Department and Deputy Chief of the Multilateral Surveillance Division in the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He served in a wide range of roles supporting IMF's analytical, policy, and operational work.

Mr. Kose has written extensively on international macroeconomics and finance. His articles have been published in leading academic journals, including the American Economic Review, International Economic Review, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Development Economics, and many others. His latest book, Falling Long-Term Growth Prospects (co-edited), examines the evolution of global potential growth and its underlying drivers. His recent policy work focuses on global inflation, debt challenges, and business cycles.

Mr. Kose is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Dean's Fellow at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, a Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and a Research Associate at the Center for Applied Macroeconomics (CAMA). He taught at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, INSEAD, and Brandeis International Business School. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa and a B.S. in industrial engineering from Bilkent University. A native of Turkey, Mr. Kose was born and raised in Istanbul.

Dr. Gerry Rice is the former Spokesman of International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Director of the Communications Department from December 2011. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Director for the Communications Department (2006-2011).

As Director of Communications, Dr. Rice served as the Spokesman for the IMF and was responsible for the Fund's strategy on external engagements with media and the Fund's key stakeholders, including legislatures and parliaments, labor representatives, civil society groups, and academics, as well as the Fund's internal communications. The Director works closely with the Managing Director and senior Fund management, advising on the communication of IMF operations, including policy and lending decisions.

Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. Rice had an illustrious 25-year career at the World Bank. Amongst other positions, he served at the World Bank as Communications Director, where he managed all aspects of the World Bank's external and internal communications.

Dr. Rice has the distinction of being the only person to have ever served as director of information communication for both IMF and World Bank.

Over 1999-2000, Mr. Rice also returned to his native Scotland to help with the international economic dimensions of the devolution project that was launched with the establishment of the first Scottish Parliament in 300 years. At that time, he published a book entitled “Scotland's Global Opportunity”.

Mr. Rice earned his PhD in Modern History from Glasgow University and was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University. His PhD thesis on the establishment of the US Peace Corps was later published as The Bold Experiment. He is also a graduate of Harvard's Management Development Program and has served as Visiting Professor at Glasgow University.