Maroof A. Syed is the President & CEO of the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP). He has over 28 years of entrepreneurship, investment, and leadership experience across multiple sectors. He combines academic work in public policy, economics, and engineering with extensive experience in leading organisations and building institutions. Maroof’s areas of interest include evidence-based governance, data analytics and decision sciences, political economy, adaptive leadership, and the role of innovation and technology in economic development.

Previously, he held senior management positions at various large and start-up technology companies, including Broadcom Corporation (formerly Silicon Spice and Element 14), Texas Instruments, and Intel Corporation (formerly Dialogic). He also co-founded Karnybo Group, which invested in late-stage technology start-up companies (Series C/D), including Tesla, Twitter, Facebook, Jawbone, Square, and Palantir.

He is the 2017 recipient of the Lucius N. Littauer Award from the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). He serves on the Board of Directors of the Pakistan Innovation Foundation (PIF), African Development University ILIMI Foundation (ADU), and the Public Interest Law Association of Pakistan (PILAP). He is a Charter Member of the Organisation of Pakistani Entrepreneurs of North America in Boston (OPEN-Boston).

Maroof holds degrees in Computer Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and a Master in Public Administration (MC/MPA) from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.