Jeffrey Sachs

Economist; Director, Earth Institute, Colombia University

Jeffrey Sachs is an economist currently serving as Director of Columbia University's Earth Institute. He received his BA, MA, and PhD from Harvard University and was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Faculty in the early 1980s, quickly rising to the the positions of Associate Professor and Professor. He has since held numerous positions at the university, including Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development at the Kennedy School of Government and Director of the Center for International Development. He assumed his current position at Columbia University in 2002, where he is also Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and a Professor in the Department of Economics and Department of Health Policy and Management.

From 2002 to 2006, Sachs was Director of the UN Millennium Project and Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He currently serves as an economic advisor to Ban-Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and is President of Millennium Promise Alliance, which he co-founded with philanthropist Ray Chambers.

Sachs was named as one of the 100 most Influential leaders in the world by Time magazine in both 2004 and 2005, and in 2007 was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government. He is the author of the bestellers Common Wealth (2008) and The End of Poverty (2005), as well as a number of academic papers and other publications.