Board of Trustees

ERF has a distinguished Board of Trustees. Of the total of 13 members, up to 4 representatives are from donor institutions and 7 members are elected by ERF’s Research Fellows. The remaining 2 members are appointed by the board for the purpose of maintaining regional or professional balance.

Board members serve 5 year terms and can serve a maximum of 2 terms in total. They meet at least once a year, usually at the Annual Conference.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for enforcing the ERF charter, setting broad policies and priorities for the Forum and monitoring and evaluating progress of the network. The board also approves the Forum’s annual work program and budget as well as the selection of Fellows. It appoints committees for a specific purposes, such as the Advisory Committee, which is responsible for considering new fellow nominations.

Below is a list of the present Board of Trustees organized alphabetically by last name.

Board of Trustees – 2022

Yousef Hamad Al-Ebraheem

Yousef Hamad Al-Ebraheem

Former Minister of Finance, Kuwait

Saba Al Mubaslat

Saba Al Mubaslat

Regional Director, Ford Foundation, Middle East and North Africa Office

Sumru Altug

Sumru Altug

American University of Beirut

Leila Baghdadi

Leila Baghdadi

University of Tunis

Wessam El Beih

Wessam El Beih

Regional Director, Middle East and North Africa, IDRC

Ziad Bahaa Eldin

Ziad Bahaa Eldin

Managing Partner, Thebes Consultancy

Roberta Gatti

Roberta Gatti

The World Bank

Mahmoud Haddad

Mahmoud Haddad

University of Tennessee at Martin

Hassan Hakimian

Hassan Hakimian

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and University of London

Merza Hasan

Merza Hasan

Senior Advisor, Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development (AFESD), Kuwait

Nisreen Salti

Nisreen Salti

American University of Beirut

Jackline Wahba

Jackline Wahba

University of Southampton, UK