Fahmida Khatun to become CPD Distinguished Fellow after 9yrs as executive director
Associated with CPD since 2003, the economist has served as its executive director from February 2017 to August 2026.
Dr Fahmida Khatun will assume the role of Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), following the completion of her nine-and-a-half-year tenure as the organisation's executive director.
The decision was approved at CPD's 68th board meeting, according to a press release issued today (27 August).
Fahmida, who has been associated with CPD since 2003, served as its executive director from February 2017 to August 2026.
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During her tenure, the scope, diversity, and quality of CPD's research programmes expanded significantly, while the number of funded projects and programmes, as well as funding organisations and development partners, increased severalfold, the release said.
Through resource mobilisation, financial management and strategic planning, she led an approximately 590% increase in CPD's Development Fund and about 171% growth in its annual income.
She also spearheaded improvements in CPD's physical and technological infrastructure and strengthened staff development, research capacity, publication quality, digitalisation, and institutional governance.
Before joining CPD, Fahmida worked as a research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and held senior professional positions at the UNDP and the USAID Mission in Bangladesh.
She has also taught economics at universities in Bangladesh and the United Kingdom and has been affiliated with several internationally recognised research and policy institutions.
Fahmida holds a master's degree and a PhD in Economics from University College London and conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University in the United States.
Her research interests include macroeconomic policy, fiscal and monetary policy, governance of the banking and financial sectors, international trade, and the economic transformation of least developed countries, read the release.
She is also a member of the United Nations Secretary-General's High-Level Panel of Experts on the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index and the High-Level Advisory Board on the Productive Capacities Index of UNCTAD.
Fahmida is a member of the Task Force on Climate, Development and International Financial Architecture of Boston University and serves on the boards of Bangladesh Bank and BRAC.
