Seminar: Pathways to Prosperity: Policies and Partnerships for Success
IMF SEMINAR EVENT
DATE: April 23, 2025
DAY: Wednesday
12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
LOCATION: IMF HQ1 Atrium
DATE: April 23, 2025
DAY: Wednesday
12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
LOCATION: IMF HQ1 Atrium

Masood Ahmed is the president emeritus of the Center for Global Development. He joined the Center in January 2017, capping a 35-year career driving economic development policy initiatives relating to debt, aid effectiveness, trade, and global economic prospects at major international institutions including the IMF, World Bank, and DFID.
Ahmed joined CGD from the IMF, where he served for eight years as director, Middle East and Central Asia Department, earning praise from Managing Director Christine Lagarde as a “visionary leader.” In that role, he oversaw the Fund's operations in 32 countries, and managed relationships with key national and regional policy makers and stakeholders.
Born and raised in Pakistan, Ahmed moved to London in 1971 to study at the LSE where he obtained a BSc Honors as well as an MSc Econ with distinction.
Ahmed is a leading expert on Middle East economics, having served on the Advisory Board of the LSE Middle East Center, as well as on the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Middle East and North Africa.


Kyriakos Pierrakakis serves as Minister of Economy and Finance of the Hellenic Republic in Prime Minister Mitsotakis' Cabinet since March 2025, and is a Member of Parliament. Previously, he was Minister of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports (2023-2025), where he initiated a series of reforms of Greece’s education system, most notably establishing a framework for private universities to formally operate in Greece for the first time and banning mobile phones in classrooms. As Minister of Digital Governance (2019-2023), he led Greece’s digital transformation, with the creation of the government portal gov.gr being the most notable initiative and one of the most popular reforms initiated in Greece. He chaired the OECD's Global Strategy Group since 2021, a position he was re-appointed to in 2024.
Pierrakakis holds degrees from MIT (M.S. Technology and Policy), Harvard Kennedy School (Master in Public Policy), and Athens University of Economics and Business (B.S. Computer Science). Born in Athens in 1983, he is married with three children and speaks English and French.
