Craig Steffensen is the Representative to the Asian Development Bank’s North American Representative Office (NARO) in Washington, DC. Mr Steffensen leads NARO’s efforts to raise public awareness of ADB in Canada and the United States and strengthen collaboration. Mr Steffensen was assigned as Country Director to ADB’s Thailand Resident Mission from 2010 to 2013, during which he helped engineer ADB's re-engagement with Myanmar in 2012. Prior to this, he was ADB’s Team Leader and Country Director for Afghanistan where he served at the forefront of efforts by the international community to assist in Afghanistan’s recovery and reconstruction. He also served as ADB’s head of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Unit based in Almaty, Kazakhstan from 2005 to 2007, where he led preparations for a comprehensive action plan for regional cooperation in consultation with eight participating Central Asian countries and five other development partners. He has worked for various development agencies including the World Bank in Lao PDR and Washington DC; The Asia Foundation in Thailand and Cambodia; USAID in Thailand and Washington DC; and US Peace Corps in the rural Philippines. Mr Steffensen holds a Master’s degree in Development Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Purdue University. He successfully completed the AID International Development Intern Program in Washington, DC, and a six-month intensive Thai language and Southeast Asia area studies program at the US State Department/Foreign Service Institute.