Prior to his current post, Thomas Panella was East Asia Department's Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Division Director. He was responsible for managing operations including strategy and project development, management, and programming. As chair of ADB’s Water Sector Committee, he provided oversight for water policy development, and strategic direction of lending and non-lending water operations. He has a PhD and MPP in Public Policy and MSc from the Energy and Resources Group of the University of California, Berkeley.