Public Policies and their Impact on Structuring and Delivering Social Sector PPPs

Meet the panel!

Gazmir Vehbi
Former Director, PPP Unit Albania

Gazmir Vehbi is a distinguished expert in Public-Private Partnerships with about 17 years of experience in public administration in Albania and other entities. He is a certified PPP expert by APMG with a comprehensive experience encompassing every stage of the PPP process. Lately, he has made significant contributions to social sector PPP projects in healthcare and education, driving remarkable improvements in school PPPs and medical service PPPs throughout Albania, Eastern Europe etc. He has extensive experience cooperating with IFC, USAID, UNECE, EPEC-EIB, and many other international institutions.

Felicitas Colombo
Director of Public and Government Affairs
Americas Health Foundation & Managing Editor, Vaccines Beat

Felicitas Colombo has spent over twenty years developing strategies with regional and global impact, fostering multi-stakeholder collaborations to shape better public policy. Ms. Colombo leads projects focused on regulatory and policy analysis, strategic communications, institutional relations, stakeholder engagement, partnerships, government relations, advocacy & awareness, access, and health education, aimed to drive policy advancements across various health topics.

Ms. Colombo has a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications, and an Executive Master of Public Administration from the London School of Economics with a concentration in regulatory analysis, policy design and risk management. Skilled in identifying the viability of projects, developing tangible criteria for success and producing measurable results, while building consensus from different stakeholders through effective partnerships that convey evidence-based information.

Luigi de Pierris
Founder & Director,
Ascent Empowerment & Development Foundation, Namibia

As an independent consultant, Luigi de Pierris has undertaken assignments for leading institutions including the African Development Bank, the European Commission, the French Development Agency, IFAD, and the World Bank. His earlier career spans banking—at JP Morgan Chase, BNP Paribas, ABN Amro, and Commerzbank—as well as roles within multilateral development banks such as the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank. He has also contributed to academia as Adjunct Professor of Infrastructure Finance and PPPs at the University of Naples in Italy. From 2000 to 2004, Luigi served as Chief Executive of the PPP Unit at the Italian Ministry of Finance.

Mario Turković
CEO
EnergoVizija Ltd.,  Croatia

Mario Turković is a PPP expert with experience gained at Croatia’s PPP Agency. Since 2016, he has been providing consultancy services across SEE countries on PPP and concession policies, legal frameworks, and institutional capacity-building for organizations such as OECD/SIGMA, IFC, and USAID.

Priscila Romano Pinheiro
PPPs and Concessions Specialist

Priscila Romano Pinheiro is an Independent Board Member (Fundação Dom Cabral), CP3P-F and M5D certified, and MBA Professor. She is a specialist in PPPs and Concessions (FESPSP–LSE). With 20+ years in the public sector, she now works at SalvadorPAR, with expertise in infrastructure, governance, and landmark projects including Salvador Metro, Arena Fonte Nova, and Suburb Hospital.