Speaker details

Biography

Sarah E. Fandell is the VP & General Counsel of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). She is an experienced development finance and business integrity leader in multicultural settings, with over 25 years of international legal experience at the cross-roads of the private and public sectors. DFC is America’s development finance institution, partnering with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the developing world today. DFC committed over $9.2 Billion in support last year through its financial tools, which include debt, guarantees, equity (both direct and through funds), political risk insurance, technical assistance, and grants. Prior to joining DFC, Sarah served as General Counsel at the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and as VP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Sarah also served for 15 years in the Inter-American Development Bank Group, including over 13 years as the General Counsel of the Inter-American Investment Corporation (now IDB Invest). Additionally, Sarah worked at Baker & McKenzie, primarily representing U.S.-based clients with respect to their investments and projects throughout Latin America. Sarah is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and holds a BA in History with honors in Humanities from Stanford University and a JD from Harvard Law School.