Ishii, a Japanese national, has been a Director in the Japanese Ministry of Finance since 2002 where she has been responsible for working on Japanese policy on development assistance, including policies pertaining to multilateral development institutions.
Prior to this, Ishii worked with the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission of Japan where she helped enforce actions for any violations of the Securities and Exchange Act.
In 1996 Ishii was a visiting scholar at Harvard University and her career has also spanned employment with the World Bank where she was Program Coordinator for Vietnam from 1997 until 2001.
Other assignments have included that of Economist with the International Monetary Fund from 1992 until 1995. Harrold’s term of office in Sri Lanka saw a remarkable turnaround in the Bank’s assistance to Sri Lanka both in financial support and in the provision of analytical and advisory services