Vita, Frank K.

Mr. Frank K. Vita, a U.S. national born in 1936, attended the University of Pittsburgh where he earned a Bachelor of Science (Economics) in 1964 and a Master in Public and International Affairs (MPIA) the following year. In 1966 he was a Ford Foundation Fellow at Harvard University.

Vita joined the World Bank in 1969 as a loan officer in the Eastern Africa Department (EAF). In 1972 he moved to the Latin America and Caribbean Vice Presidency (LCN) where he served in the same capacity. In June 1973 Vita took leave from the Bank to pursue studies at Harvard University.

Upon Vita's return in 1975, he joined the Development Finance Companies Department (DFC) as an Economist in the Financial Development Unit (DFCDR). The new Industrial Development and Finance Department (IDF) assumed DFC's responsibilities in 1977. Vita briefly served in the new IDF before being transferred to the Financial Division of the Western Africa Industrial Development and Finance Projects Department (WAPID) where he was promoted to Senior Operations Officer.

In 1980, Vita moved into the Bank's Finance Complex when he was named Senior Economist for Financial Operations in the Treasury Vice Presidency's Financial Operations Department (FOD). In this capacity he headed FOD's Capital Markets and Economic Studies Unit (CAMES). In June 1984 he was appointed to the position of Deputy Chief of Mission, Tokyo Office, and was the Bank's liaison with the Japanese government and financial community.

Vita joined the Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) in November 1985. He was located in the Office of the Executive Vice President (CEX) where he was a Manager in Corporate Development.

In 1990, Vita returned to the World Bank's Operations Complex when he was named Senior Country Officer in the Europe, Middle East, and North Africa Vice Presidency (EMENA). Vita was placed in Country Department 4 (EM4) which contained a number of former communist states that were in the process of transitioning to market economies; EM4 countries included Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. After the Bank-wide 1991 reorganization, Vita was named a Senior Operations Officer in the Europe and Central Asia Vice Presidency's (ECAVP) Country Department 2 (EC2) which was responsible for Albania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Yugoslavia.

Vita retired from the World Bank in 1992. In 1993 he was named special advisor under the Executive Service agreement between the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Vita worked out of USAID's Central Europe Department which was responsible for rendering advisory assistance in the areas of privatization of domestic financial institutions and commercial enterprises. It was also responsible for identifying potential projects for the World Bank Group or other financing in former communist countries.

In 1994 Vita was hired by Arthur Andersen LLP as Managing Director, Global Emerging Markets Services (GEMS). Vita's teams provided support for large-scale World Bank-financed financial institutions. Vita fulfilled contracts funded by recipient governments in Russia and the Central Asian republics. In 1997, Vita moved to PricewaterhouseCoopers (Asia) where he worked on project identification for possible World Bank funding primarily in the financial and energy sectors.