William Thomson is a Senior Advisor to the President, Ron Nechemia, and Member of the International Advisory Board Council of Global Bank. He is a geopolitical analyst and international economist experienced in development and capital markets issues, with a longstanding and deep interest in Asian economic developments.

He was born in the United Kingdom at the outbreak of World War II and received a degree in Mathematics with first class honors from the University of Manchester. He moved to the United States in 1961 and subsequently received a M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Washington and an M.Phil. in International Economics from George Washington University in Washington DC.

After working for as an analyst for NASA and defense contractors during the 1960s he moved to Legg Mason as an investment analyst and then the US Treasury to work on domestic and then international economic issues where he specialised on international financial institutions including the IMF, the World Bank and the regional development banks including the Asian and African Development Banks. He was resident for periods in Abidjan spending time of the Board and did the same in Manila before moving there permanently in 1985.

He was at the ADB from 1985-95, first on the Board and then as Vice President, where he was responsible for the bank’s economic work and its lending policies in 30 borrowing countries at a time of rapid expansion of the lending activities and dynamic economic restructuring in the region as many more countries embarked on a process of regional and global integration. During this period the bank developed innovative modalities to support the restructuring and expansion of activities in infrastructure, capital markets and the social sectors. Programs to China, Indochina and Central Asia began or were restarted and programs in other countries sharply expanded.

Subsequent to the ADB he was Senior Advisor to Franklin Templeton in Asia/Pacific dealing with central banks and governments from 1995 till 2008. In the wake of the Asian financial crisis he created the Siam Recovery Fund to invest in Thailand, and chaired that public fund from 1997 till 2005. He has also been a director of a number of financial services companies in Asia and has been Chairman of Hong Kong based Private Capital, a client focused, ethical asset management company since 2003. He writes frequently for clients and has been a regular columnist for Asia Asset Management for the past decade.

Mr. Thomson lives with his family in the United Kingdom, where he has been resident since 1998.