Kelly Bird is the Country Director for the Philippines, appointed to the position in January 2018. Prior to this assignment, he was Director of the Public Management, Financial Sector and Trade Division in the Southeast Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank. He joined ADB in June 2006 and specializes in regulatory governance and reforms, financial sector development, trade and investment policy, and employment policy, among others. While at ADB, he has worked with governments on various economic development programs in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Thailand.
Prior to joining ADB, he worked as part of a USAID-funded project with the Indonesian government from 1999 to 2005, and in 2006 as a consultant on trade policy with the World Bank in Jakarta. He has also worked in several southern African countries on competition policy and private sector development.
He graduated with a PhD in economics from the Australian National University in 1999. He has published several papers in international journals including Applied Economic Letters, Bulletin of Indonesian Studies, Journal of Development Studies, Oxford Development Studies, Southeast Asian Affairs, World Economy, and World Development.