Dr. Villa is a career central banker whose portfolio of central banking experience covers the areas of currency management, currency integrity, payment system oversight, payment system development, external debt management, foreign exchange (FX) regulations, international relations, FX reserve management, and FX and monetary policy implementation through market operations.
Her current role as Head of Payments and Currency Development Sub-Sector and immediately preceding that as Head of International Monetary Affairs and Surveillance Sub-Sector are focused on regulation and oversight, but the larger part of her central banking career had been spent in markets and market operations. Her brief stint in the monitoring group of the Joint CBP-BAP FX prioritization committee (during the 1983 FX debt moratorium) was a result of her treasury training.
Dr. Villa started out as a portfolio manager of fixed income securities, moved through the various trading and reserve management desks of the central bank, and became the BSP’s Chief Dealer in 2004.
As a “markets-oriented person,” she was an unexpected choice for Chief of Staff (COS) of then BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., who was a seasoned economist. Initially a one-year assignment, the appointment extended until Governor Tetangco’s second term. As COS, Dr. Villa held concurrent memberships in the BSP’s high-level policy committees, such as the Advisory Committee, the Investment Management Committee, and the Financial Stability Committee. She also participated in the development, monitoring, and implementation of critical high-level policies and strategies of the BSP. In 2017, she was seconded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board as Alternate Executive Director representing the South East Asia Voting Group.
Dr. Villa holds a PhD in Economics degree from The George Washington University in Washington DC, completing her course requirements therein as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. She was awarded the Hsieh Prize in 1994 as the GWU’s Economics Department Best Graduate Teaching Assistant. She has an MBA (with distinction) and a BS Statistics degree (cum laude) from the University of the Philippines. She is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
