Dr. Guevera Yao
- Vice President, U.S.-Africa Business Center, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Dr. Guevera Yao is the Vice President for the U.S.-Africa Business Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Yao oversees programs and policy initiatives to broaden commercial relationships between the U.S. and North, West, and Central Africa markets. He advises Chamber’s Fortune 500 companies, Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and government leaders to deepen and expand trade & investment opportunities between the U.S. and markets across Africa. He also leads a number of initiatives within the U.S. Chamber’s U.S.-Africa Business Center, including the Trade and Investment Task Forces, the U.S.-Angola Working Group, U.S.-Africa Digital Innovation Competition for African Start-ups, the U.S. Chamber – African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat Joint Working Group, and the high-level dialogue between International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the Central Bank of Central African States (BEAC).
Yao is an economist and policy expert with over 20 years of experience in economic integration, regional infrastructure development, and trade and finance for several developing countries, including the Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He worked with ECOWAS for over eight years coordinating the implementation of a flagship regional development program adopted by the 15 Heads of State of the ECOWAS region to boost regional trade and investment in West Africa.
Prior to ECOWAS, Yao worked as a senior technical advisor for the governments of Tanzania and Namibia to provide policy guidance on the design and enactment of intergovernmental fiscal transfer systems for subnational governments. He worked as a senior research associate for the International Center for Public Policy at Georgia State University, where he contributed to several analytical studies, including the USAID project on Fiscal Reform in Support of Trade Liberalization. He also provided consultancy services for the Urban Institute and the World Bank on urban service delivery in South Asia.
Dr. Yao is a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Advisory Council member and a Board Member of the ACDI /VOCA. He holds a Master’s and Ph.D. in Economics from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. He is fluent in French, English, and several African languages.
