Takehiko Nakao

Mr. Nakao is currently serving as President of the Asian Development Bank. He was former Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Japan (until March, 2013).

In 1978, Mr. Nakao joined the Ministry of Finance of Japan, and since then, has spent most of his career there. During his early years at the Ministry, he worked in various Bureaus such as Tax, Securities, and International Finance. From 1994 through 1997, Mr. Nakao worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Washington, D.C., as a senior-level staff economist (Advisor in the Policy Development and Review Department).

Since 1997, Mr. Nakao worked as Director, Non-bank Division, Banking Bureau, and Director, International Organization Division, International Bureau, Budget Examiner, Budget Bureau in charge of Foreign Affairs, Economy, Trade and Industry, and ODA, Director of Development Policy Division, International Bureau, and Director of the Coordination Division of the Bureau. Between 2005 and 2007, he was assigned as Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. After returning to Japan, he became Senior Deputy Director-General of the International Bureau and played the role of Financial Sub Sherpa for G8 and G20 Summit Meetings, and then became in July 2009 Director General of the Bureau. After serving as Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs since August 2011, he resigned from the position in March 2013. He was appointed as ADB President on April 28, 2013.

During his service within the public sector, Mr. Nakao published two books, “US Economic Policies” (2008: Chuko-shinsho) and “International Taxation System” (1989: Nihon-sozei-kenkyukyokai).

He also wrote many papers including “Challenges in International Finance and Japan’s Responses”* (2012), “International Response to Global Financial Crisis: Future Directions for Macroeconomic Policy and Financial Regulation” (2010), “Reforming the International Monetary System: Japan’s Perspective”* (2010), “Japanese ODA Policy and the New World Trends of Development Aid”* (2005), “Japan’s Fiscal Policy in the 1990’s”* (2001), “Hedge Funds and International Finance”* (1999), and “Evolving Role of the IMF” (1996). (English versions are available for the papers with asterisk*)

He served as Visiting Professor at University of Tokyo during the first semesters of 2010 and 2011 teaching international finance for graduate and undergraduate students every Saturday.

He holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Tokyo, 1978 and a MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, 1982. Mr. Nakao was born in 1956. He is married to Asako with two children.