Laura Ignacio is Head of the BSP Research Academy (BRAc). Established in January 2021, the BRAc has the following mandates: (1) lead the development of a comprehensive and integrated research agenda; (2) design and implement research support programs; (3) conduct research and facilitate publication of research work; (4) prepare papers, articles, and notes for BSP top management; (5) facilitate research collaboration within BSP and its partner institutions; (6) conduct research dissemination activities; and, (7) ensure BSP has presence in the domestic and global research community.

Ms. Ignacio joined the BSP in 2010 as a Bank Officer V at the Center for Monetary and Financial Policy (CMFP) under the Monetary Policy Sub-Sector (MPSS). She became Deputy Director of the CMFP in 2016 and Director in 2018. She remained as Director of the group when it became the Monetary and Financial Policy Studies Group (MFPSG) under the Department of Economic Research (DER) in 2021. She joined the BRAc in March 2022 as Officer-in-Charge and served as Deputy Head when Deputy Governor Francisco G. Dakila, Jr., was designated as concurrent Head of the BRAc in June 2022. In February 2023, she was appointed as Head of BRAc.

Prior to the BSP, Ms. Ignacio was a Research Consultant at the World Bank where she worked on food safety and agricultural health, recommending action plans on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures for developing countries such as Lao PDR, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Ghana. She also worked as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from the University of the Philippines and graduated from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. with a PhD in Economics.