As CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation, Rindra Hasimbelo Rabarinirinarison leads a global organization dedicated to advancing adaptation action and serving at the forefront of efforts to address the rising climate risks facing the planet. A national of Madagascar with more than two decades of public service experience, she served as the country’s Minister of Economy and Finance from 2021 to 2025.

Internationally, she has been a Governor on the boards of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Her economic stewardship was recognized with the African Minister of the Year Award (Economic Recovery, Growth and Development) at the 2023 African Business Leadership Awards, as well as the 2024 Special Women’s Leadership Award (ALM London). As Minister, she oversaw national economic, fiscal, and budgetary policy and led negotiations with major international partners through both the onset and aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of Madagascar’s pathbreaking response to climate risks, she led efforts that made it the first country to benefit from the joint IMF–World Bank Enhanced Cooperation Framework for Scaled-Up Climate Action in the context of the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility, established a unique contingency fund to enable rapid disaster response and the financing of emergency action, leveraged international and regional insurance mechanisms to reduce pressure on public finances, and worked with partners including the World Bank to deploy social safety nets for the most vulnerable communities exposed to climate disasters.

In previous roles, Rindra Hasimbelo Rabarinirinarison also held senior appointments including as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, was Chairperson of the National Public Procurement Board, and served as a Judge on fiscal and public administration affairs at the Supreme Court of Madagascar.

A public governance expert, with specializations in public procurement, administrative justice, and international financial cooperation, she has also been a lecturer in public law and procurement law at several Malagasy institutions, including the National School of Magistracy. She benefited from Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders at Georgia State University in Atlanta, USA, is a graduate of the University of La Réunion and of the Catholic Institute of Madagascar, and in 2022 was a ministerial leadership trainee at Harvard University.