Melissa is an economics and finance professional who has spent more than 15 years advising governments, private investors, and multilateral development agencies. She has worked domestically and internationally at the nexus of public finance, private sector development, social policy, and climate policy.

Melissa recently advised the Millennium Challenge Corporation on ways to boost private sector participation in nascent renewable energy markets. She has also recently advised on the feasibility of a credit guarantee fund to support private sector development in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Melissa was part of a CFA-led team that advised the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) on strategies to meet their increased climate finance targets. As part of this work, she assessed how MIGA compared to other political risk insurance providers on product innovations in the climate finance space.

Prior to working at CFA, Melissa was an economic advisor to New Zealand’s Minister of Finance and a public finance professional at the New Zealand Treasury. At the Treasury, she developed and operated New Zealand’s long-term public finance models that project the public finances for a 40-year period. She helped to innovate a model approach to capture the fiscal costs of climate risks on New Zealand’s public finances. In Australia, Melissa worked as a transfer pricing economist for the Australian Government, analysing the commerciality of multi-billion dollar intra-company loans. She also worked as an investment strategy analyst at Macquarie Bank, advising clients on green investment portfolios.

Ms. Piscetek holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economics (graduated with distinction), a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting, and a Diploma of Financial Planning, all from Australia.