In this episode, Paola Subacchi sits down with Nicole Kearse to explore the intricacies of debt management. Drawing on Nicole’s extensive experience at the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), they discuss debt sustainability, capacity building, and the strategies to help countries prevent debt crises.

Guest: Nicole Kearse is the head of sovereign finance for the ALSF since 2022 and previously served as the organization’s senior legal counsel. Through this role, she uses her expertise on the African region and emerging markets to aid the organization in providing legal advice and technical assistance to countries in the negotiation of complex commercial transactions, creditor litigation, and other sovereign transactions.

Prior to servicing in her roles at the ALSF, Nicole Kearse co-founded the Krescent Consulting firm, providing strategic consulting and organizational and IT consulting services to law firms, SMEs, not-for profits, and African start-ups.

Prior to serving as the SPR Director, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu served as the Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions at the World Bank Group from 2015 to 2020, where she managed a portfolio of $30 billion in operational and policy work and advisory engagements. She also served in a variety of different positions with the IMF from 1992-1998 and 2003-2015, including as Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, Assistant Director in the European Department, and Mission Chief for Ukraine. Earlier in her career, she helped Türkiye’s government contain and resolve the 2001 economic crisis—first as a member of the government’s crisis management team, then as the Vice President of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency.

Listen to the episode and stay tuned on DebtTalks.