Bart W. Édes is director of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB's) Poverty Reduction, Social Development, and Governance Division, and chairman of ADB's Social Development and Poverty Community of Practice. Mr. Édes manages a division providing quality assurance, policy guidance, and technical advice to ADB operations in the following areas: civil society engagement; education and skills development; capacity building; anti-corruption, governance and public management; health and communicable diseases; ICT for development; inclusive business; poverty and social analysis; social dimensions of climate change; and social protection and labor in developing Asia and the Pacific. The division also generates and shares knowledge and good practice, mobilizes resources, forges partnerships, and undertakes pilot projects. In previous assignments at the regional development bank, Mr. Édes also oversaw ADB work promoting women's empowerment in ADB operations, and led development of ADB's Public Communications Policy, which set a new global benchmark for transparency among the international financial institutions. Between 1994 and 2000, Mr. Édes managed communications at SIGMA, a joint initiative of the European Union and the OECD providing support on public governance reform to European countries in transition. In earlier roles, Mr. Édes has worked as a journalist, policy analyst, and specialist on international trade and foreign direct investment. He earned a master's degree in public policy from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor's degree in government from Georgetown University.