Avril Benchimol Dominguez

Avril Benchimol is leading the blended finance initiative at the GEF. She has seventeen years of experience in capital markets and structured finance both in multilateral institutions and investment banking. At the GEF, she manages a blended finance portfolio of more than US$ 313 million in active projects. During her eight years of work at the Inter-American Development Bank, she designed and executed capital markets and structured finance transactions supporting SDGs. She also led a green microfinance facility in 11 countries that facilitated microfinance clients’ mitigation and adaptation initiatives. While at the GEF, the blended finance portfolio has grown to include new asset classes such as the Rhino Bond, Debt for Nature debt restructuring, de-risking green hydrogen facility or the securitization of biodiversity lending portfolio in the Amazon.
Prior to joining the IDB Group, she spent six years working in investment banking for Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas in London, Madrid, and Brussels. Her main areas of expertise included capital markets and structured equity derivatives. In 2011, she received her Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, where she graduated with honors. Avril is originally from Spain and currently lives in Washington, DC.