PEP is pleased to welcome two new members, Rohinton Medhora and Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, to the Board of Directors. They will replace Fred Carden and Haroon Bhorat, whose terms ended in December. Additionally, Carol Newman has been appointed as the new Chair of the PEP Board of Directors—the first woman to hold this position. All three members bring a wealth of experience and knowledge that will greatly benefit the organization. The PEP team is confident that the organization will continue to succeed and flourish under their leadership. We sincerely thank the outgoing members for their dedicated service over the past six years.
Carol Newman is a Professor in Economics at the Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin. She is a co-founder of the Trinity Impact Evaluation Unit (TIME). She is a non-resident research fellow of UNU-WIDER, a research associate of the Development Economics Research Group at the University of Copenhagen, a consultant to the World Bank, and Champion for the International Development Research Theme in Trinity College Dublin. Her research is in the microeconomics of development with a focus on enterprises, jobs and livelihoods. Professor Newman has published widely in the fields of development and agricultural economics. She is engaged in research projects across Africa and Southeast Asia. She holds a Ph.D. and a B.A. (Mod) in Economics from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Professor Newman is a member of the Board of the Partnership for Economic Policy.
Rohinton P. Medhora is a Distinguished Fellow and former President of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (2012-2022). He holds a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Toronto, where he also earned his B.A and M.A majoring in economics. His expertise includes monetary and trade policy, innovation strategies, international economic relations and development economics. He has published extensively in professional and non-technical journals and has produced several books. He sits on The Lancet and Financial Times Commission on Governing Health Futures 2030, as well as the Commission on Global Economic Transformation. He is chair of the board of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, vice-chair at the McLuhan Foundation and on the advisory boards of the WTO Chairs Programme, UNU-MERIT and Global Health Centre. From 2021-2022, he chaired the Ontario Workplace Recovery Advisory Committee.
Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute and leader of its Ethiopia Strategy Support Program. His areas of research include agriculture transformation, social protection, and well-being outcomes in Ethiopia and beyond. He is an Elected Fellow of the Econometric Society and the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences. He has served as the president of the Ethiopian Economics Association and is currently serving on the Independent Council of Economic Advisors to the Government of Ethiopia. He holds a BA in Economics from Addis Ababa University, an M.Sc. in Quantitative Development Economics from the University of Warwick, and a D.Phil. in Economics from the University of Oxford.
Welcome to the new members, and congratulations new board chair!