PERSON: Minouche Shafik

President

Minouche Shafik (formally Nemat Talaat Shafik, Baroness Shafik, DBE, HonFBA; Arabic: نعمت شفيق; born 13 August 1962) is an Egyptian-born British and American economist who has been serving as the 20th president of Columbia University since July 2023. She previously served as president and vice chancellor of the London School of Economics from 2017 to 2023. She also serves on the board of directors of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Previously, Shafik served as deputy governor of the Bank of England from 2014 to 2017 and permanent secretary of the United Kingdom Department for International Development from 2008 to 2011. She has also served as a vice president at the World Bank and as deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

Shafik was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to parents who were both educators. As a child, she went to Schutz American School. When she was 4, the family moved to Savannah, Georgia in the mid-1960s, then to Miami and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Shafik received a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with a major in economics and politics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1983; a Master of Science in economics from the London School of Economics in 1986; and a Doctor of Philosophy in economics from St Antony’s College, Oxford, in 1989.

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