Robert W. van Zwieten

Robert is the Managing Director, Asia-Pacific for Convergence, the global network for blended finance. He combines 22 years of private sector experience in global financial markets with 10+ years of mobilizing institutional private sector capital into development and innovating development finance.

He is a board member of AVPN and Music for Life International. Prior to joining Convergence, Robert founded and led The Serendra Group LLC, a boutique emerging markets advisory firm that helps CEOs build better businesses in emerging markets. He was the President and CEO of EMPEA, the global industry association for private capital in emerging markets, and worked at ADB as the Director leading the Private Sector Capital Markets Division, covering 42 developing member countries during the Global Economic Crisis.  His experience further includes roles as Managing Director and COO of an Asia-focused hedge fund venture; EVP, CFO and Member of the Executive Committee of the Singapore Exchange; SVP, CAO and other global leadership roles at Lehman Brothers in New York; Managing Director and Global Treasurer at GE Energy in Atlanta; and Managing Director and Treasurer for GE Capital Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong during the Asian Financial Crisis. Earlier in his career, he worked in ABN AMRO Bank’s Global Clients & Investment Banking Division in Amsterdam, Chicago and Singapore.