http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=132432

Pak economist Masood Ahmed appointed as Director of IMF
Friday January 27, 2006 (0111 PST)

WASHINGTON, January 27 (Online): Well-known Pakistan economist and former World Bank official Masood Ahmed has been appointed as Director of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) External Relations Department.
IMF sources quoted by UNI said Ahmed will succeed Thomas Dawson who will retire on April 30 after serving for six years.

The External Relations Department is the Fund’s strategic center for public communication. It develops and coordinates the Fund’s external communications strategy, helps shape the key messages the Fund sends out to the external world, advises Fund management and staff on how best to convey those key messages and monitors and responds to what those outside the Fund say about the institution’s activities.

Mr Ahmed holds an M Sc in Economics from the London School of Economics. Between 1979-2000, he worked for the World Bank in a number of senior positions, including that of Vice President Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network.

He was appointed Deputy Director of the Fund’s Policy Development and Review Department in 2000, and is currently on an external assignment at the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development as the Director General, Policy and International.