Salam Fayyad

Salam Fayyad is a distinguished fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. He is the former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority where he served from 2007 to 2013. During his six-year tenure, he introduced and oversaw extensive plans for state building through institutional reform and the modernization of public and security services.

Fayyad previously served as minister of finance for the Palestinian Authority from 2002 until 2005, and again from March 2007 until his appointment as prime minister. He served several cabinets during his tenure as finance minister, during which time he introduced a series of extensive financial reforms. In 2006, he ran in the Palestinian legislative elections and was elected for the Palestinian Legislative Council where he served as chairman of the Finance Committee.

Fayyad began his career at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. in 1987, where he held several positions, including assistant to the executive director, advisor to the executive director, and resident representative. From 1996 until 2001, he was the Jerusalem-based senior resident representative to Palestine.

Fayyad was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Texas at Austin in 2010 for his tireless work in Palestine. He was appointed chairman of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for the MENA region in 2014 and was named a Distinguished Statesman at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council as well as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Fayyad holds a Bachelor of Science from the American University of Beirut, a Master of Business Administration from St. Edward's University, and a doctorate in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Currently, Fayyad is visiting senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

EDUCATION

• B.Sc., American University of Beirut, 1975
• M.B.A., St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas, 1980
• Ph.D., Economics, University of Texas at Austin, 1986