Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Eva Csaky
Executive Director
Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity
Southern Methodist University
Dr. Eva Szalkai Csaky is the Executive Director of the Hunter and Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity in the Lyle School of Engineering. In this position, she is developing projects and initiatives in collaboration with academia, the private sector and not-for-profit organizations that benefit disadvantaged communities, both locally and around the world.
Prior to joining SMU, Eva worked for the World Bank Group for 15 years with a focus on market-based solutions for environmental and social problems. She led the design and implementation of projects in 24 different countries around the world and led programs and initiatives in areas including energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy and clean water access.
Eva's award winning efforts include a $250 million public-private energy efficiency partnership and a $120 million energy efficiency retrofit for low-income households. She also worked extensively in the area of sustainable value chains in collaboration with major global companies, focusing on agri-food and garment value chains. Eva was recently the recipient of the first ever World Bank Innovation Award.
Eva received her Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting from Budapest Business School, Hungary, and her Master of Science in Finance from The George Washington University, Washington, DC. She was also awarded a Master of Arts in Public Policy and a Ph.D. in Public Policy with concentration in Globalization and Development from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Her research has focused on leveraging value chain dynamics for poverty alleviation, in particular in agri-food value chains, and on collective action among small producers to enable their effective participation in modern value chains.
