Mathematica Policy Research today announced the appointment of Nancy Birdsall to serve as a member of the board of directors. Birdsall brings decades of expertise in global development to Mathematica’s board, where she joins 13 other internal and external board members committed to providing direction and advice to ensure the company fulfills its mission of improving public well-being.
“We are excited about the opportunity to bring Nancy into the Mathematica family and look forward to her leadership as we continue to provide quality and objective research to funders and policymakers tackling problems around the globe,” said Mathematica President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Decker.
Birdsall is currently a senior fellow and president emeritus of the Center for Global Development where she is focused on the roles and financing of the multilateral development banks; climate finance; inequality and the middle class in developing countries; and the long-run effect of modern contraception on women's economic empowerment. She is the founding president of the center and held that position from 2001 to 2016.
“Mathematica is helping to improve health, education, agriculture, financial inclusion, and other areas crucial to well-being in more than 40 countries. Joining its board provides me with another important avenue to continue my work to address policy challenges around the world,” said Nancy Birdsall.
Before launching the Center for Global Development, Birdsall served at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as senior associate and director of the Economic Reform Project, focusing on globalization, inequality, and the reform of the international financial institutions.
In 1993, she was named executive vice president of the Inter-American Development Bank, overseeing a $30 billion public and private loan portfolio for the largest of the regional development banks. She previously held a variety of research, policy, and management positions at the World Bank, including director of the Policy Research Department.
Birdsall has authored and edited more than a dozen books and many scholarly papers, including Cash on Delivery: A New Approach to Foreign Aid with William Savedoff and New Ideas on Development after the Financial Crisis with Francis Fukuyama. Her writing has appeared in dozens of U.S. and Latin American newspapers and periodicals. Birdsall earned a Ph.D. in economics from Yale University and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.