Saroj Kumar Jha assumed his office as the regional director of the World Bank for Central Asia on 1 February 2012. The regional World Bank office locates in Almaty (Kazakhstan).

Prior to appointment, Saroj Kumar Jha worked as global head of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).

Saroj K. Jha has been a World Bank hazard management specialist since 2005, undertaking a wide range of research, policy and operational assignments. Prior to joining the Bank, he was a member of the Indian Administrative Service for more than fifteen years.

In addition to coordinating a large number of post-disaster humanitarian relief and long-term recovery and reconstruction projects, he has worked extensively on multi-hazard risk and vulnerability assessments, design of end-to-end early warning systems, design and implementation of public training and capacity building programs, policy and institution building initiatives, public-private-people partnerships for disaster prevention and mitigation in different countries.

He also worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in India and Iran for more than five years coordinating the implementation of disaster recovery and mitigation programs. He has been closely associated with development of national disaster management systems in several countries. He holds a degree in civil engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and, a degree on International Disaster Management from Cranfield University (GB) and has authored several publications on disaster risk reduction.