Prior to becoming a Vice President in the World Bank, Shamshad Akhtar served as Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (2006-2009), a Federal Ministerial level ranking. During this period she was also a Governor of the IMF. In 2006 and 2007 she was nominated Asia’s Best Central Bank Governor by Emerging Markets and the Banker’s Trust. Prior to her leadership of the Pakistan Central Bank, she worked as Director General of the South East Asia Region of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Governance, Finance and Trade Division. She also served as ADB’s Coordinator of the APEC Finance Ministers Process. Between 1980 - 1990 she worked as a Country Economist at the World Bank’s Resident Office in Islamabad. She is the recipient of a Post Doctoral Fellowship from Harvard University and holds an MA in Development Economics from the University of Sussex and an MSc in Economics from the Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.