Maroof Syed is the President & CEO of the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP) and a Senior Fellow and Advisor at Harvard’s Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD). He has over 20 years of entrepreneurship, investment and leadership experience in multiple sectors. He combines academic work in public policy, economics, and engineering with extensive experience in leading organisations and building institutions. Mr. Syed’s areas of interest include evidence-based governance, data analytics and decision sciences, political economy, adaptive leadership and institutions, and the role of innovation and technology in economic development. Previously, he held senior management positions at various technology companies Broadcom Corporation (formerly Silicon Spice), Texas Instruments and Dialogic Corporation.

He is the 2017 recipient of the Lucius N. Littauer Award from the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and is on the Board of Directors of Pakistan Innovation Foundation (PIF), African Development University ILIMI Foundation (ADU) and on the Advisory Board of Sawayra. He is also a Charter Member of Organisation of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America in Boston (OPEN-Boston). Mr. Syed has degrees in Computer Systems Engineering from Rensselaer (RPI) and a Master in Public Administration (MC/MPA) from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.