Shafik joined the World Bank after Oxford and held a variety of roles, starting in the research department where she worked on global economic modelling and forecasting and then later on environmental issues. She moved to do macroeconomic work on Eastern Europe during the transition and in the Middle East where she published a number of books and articles on the region's economic future, the economics of peace, labour markets, regional integration, and gender issues. Shafik became the youngest ever Vice President at the World Bank at the age of 36. She initially went to the British Government's Department for International Development on secondment as Director General for Country Programmes where she was responsible for all of DFID's overseas offices and financing across Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. She was appointed as DFID's Permanent Secretary in 2008 where she managed a bilateral aid programme in over 100 countries, multilateral policies and financing for the United Nations, European Union and international financial institutions, and overall development policy and research – responsible for 2400 staff and a budget of £38 billion for 2011–2014. During her tenure, DFID was described by the OECD independent peer review as "a recognised international leader in development". Nemat Shafik served as IMF Deputy Managing Director from April 2011 until March 2014. As Deputy Managing Director, Ms. Shafik was responsible for the IMF's work in Europe and the Middle East, a $1 billion administrative budget, human resources for its 3,000 staff and the IMF's training and technical assistance for policy makers around the world. An economist by training, she has held a number of senior positions in international organisations. She has also spoken, taught and published extensively on globalisation, emerging markets and private investment, international development, the future of Middle East and Africa, and the environment.
Academic work
Shafik has held academic appointments at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Economics Department at Georgetown University. She has authored, edited, and co-authored a number of books, including Prospects for the Middle East and North African Economies: from Boom to Bust and Back? and Challenges Facing Middle Eastern and North African Countries: Alternative Futures, and Reviving Private Investment in Developing Countries. She has written articles for a number of publications, including Oxford Economic Papers, Colombia Journal of World Business, The Middle East Journal, Journal of African Finance and Economic Development, World Development, and the Journal of Development Economics. She contributes to a blog with other heads of development agencies at Ideas4development.org. In September 2016, Shafik was appointed as the 16th Director of the London School of Economics, effective from 1 September 2017.
Boards and charitable activities
Dame Nemat Shafik has chaired several international consultative groups including: the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme, the Global Water and Sanitation Program, Cities Alliance, InfoDev, the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility, and the Global Corporate Governance Forum. She was instrumental in launching the Africa Infrastructure Consortium. She served on a number of boards including the Middle East Advisory Group to the International Monetary Fund, and the Economic Research Forum for the Arab World, Iran and Turkey. She is also active on the board and as a mentor to the Minority Ethnic Talent Association which supports under-represented groups to advance to senior positions in the civil service. She currently serves as a Trustee of the British Museum, the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Supervisory Board of Siemens, the Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health, the New Economy Forum, and the Per Jacobsson Foundation.
She has twin children with her second husband, Raffael Jovine, and three stepchildren. She speaks English, Arabic, and French and holds both US and UK nationality.
