Ahsan Iqbal

Prof. Ahsan Iqbal, former Federal Minister for Education (2008) is third term Member of National Assembly from Narowal District. He is a CEC member of the Pakistan Muslim League-N and heads “Better Pakistan Foundation”, a non-government public policy and knowledge development advocacy group. He was on faculty of Department of Business Administration at Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, Islamabad, Pakistan as Professor of Management (2000-2007). He worked as Senior Advisor, Al Madinah Al Monawarah Digital Economy Project, Saudi Arabia (2004-2006) to develop a digital economy based vision and strategic plan for the Governor of Madinah Monawarah, Saudi Arabia. His previous appointments include Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission (1998-99); Chief Coordinator / Minister of State, Pakistan 2010 Programme (1997-99); Chairman, Good Governance Group, Government of Pakistan, a UNDP funded initiative (1997-99), Chairman, Pakistan Engineering Board, Government of Pakistan (1998-99), and Chairman, National Steering Committees on Information Technology and TQM & Productivity (1998-99). He earlier served as Policy and Public Affairs Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan (1993). He has also held senior level corporate positions (1986-90) in major public sector corporations of Pakistan. His leadership training seminars (2000-todate) for middle and senior officials from public and private sector organizations are very popular in Pakistan. Mr. Iqbal had initiated and authored Vision 2010 for Pakistan, aimed at preparing the country for knowledge economy and globalization challenge. On his initiative, Pakistan's first National IT Policy was formulated in 1999. His leadership was instrumental in starting several knowledge, good governance, and civil service reform programs in the country through extensive stakeholders’ dialogue and partnership. He introduced "Champions of Reform" Program, a first of its kind civil society based socio-economic participatory development initiative. His areas of interest include Management & Strategy, Leadership, Change Management, Knowledge Economy, Governance & Development, and Campaigns. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, USA (1984-86), B.Sc. (Mechanical Engineering) from the University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan (1976-81), where he was elected President of Students Union (1980-81). He has also attended School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, USA (1989), Oxford University, UK (1992), Kennedy School, Harvard University, USA (2004) programs.