Chief Economic Advisor, Allianz
Mohamed A. El-Erian has worked on economic and financial issues in both the public and private sectors. Currently, he is the Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, the corporate parent of PIMCO where he formerly served as chief executive and co-chief investment officer (2007-14), a columnist for Bloomberg View, a contributing editor at the Financial Times, and a member of the UnderArmour and several non-profit boards. He chairs Allianz International Advisory Board and, from December 2012 to January 2017, chaired President Obama’s Global Development Council.
Having served for 15 years as an international civil servant at the IMF in Washington DC, Dr. El-Erian first joined PIMCO in 1999 and was a senior member of PIMCO's portfolio management and investment strategy group. He rejoined the company at the end of 2007 after serving for two years as president and CEO of Harvard Management Company, the entity that manages Harvard’s endowment.
El-Erian has published widely on international economic and finance topics. His 2008 book, When Markets Collide, was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, won the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year and was named a book of the year by The Economist and one of the best business books of all time by the Independent (UK). His 2016 book, The Only Game in Town: Central Banks, Instability and Avoiding the Next Collapse, was also a New York Times bestseller.
Among the many recognitions, El-Erian was named to Foreign Policy’s list of “Top 100 Global Thinkers” for four years in a row and, in 2017, to Investment News’ list of 20 market “icons and innovators.” In both 2016 and 2017, Linked-In named him as one of its top three “voices” among its “influencers.” Since 2014, he has been on the jury for the annual for the Financial Times/McKenzie Book of the Year award. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
El-Erian co-chairs the capital campaign for Cambridge University and its colleges. He has served on several boards and committees, including the U.S. Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, the International Center for Research on Women, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the IMF's Committee of Eminent Persons, New America, and the New York Fed’ Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets. He is currently a board member of several non-profits, including the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER – Executive Committee), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Vice-Chair), KAUST, Interlochen, and the OCSA Foundation. Since 2007, he has been Chair of Microsoft’s Investment Advisory Board, since 2017, serves on the external advisory board for Investcorp, and has just recently joined the board of directors at Under Armour. He is a current Senior Advisor at Gramercy Funds Management LLC, and has advised several central banks and finance ministries.
El-Erian has received numerous awards and recognition for his economics, financial industry and philanthropic activities, including named to the Fixed Income Hall of Fame and receiving the Ukleja Center’s Nell and John Wooden Ethics in Leadership award, the Creative Leadership Award by the Louise Blouin Foundation, the Egyptian Cancer Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his support of cancer treatment and cures, and the Middle East Institute’s Visionary Award. He was named by Investment News as an “Icon and Innovator.”
El-Erian is a regular participant in economic and financial conferences, including at the BIS, the Bank of England, the G-20, the IMF, the World Bank and several private sector events. Among his many speeches, he delivered the Per Jacobsson Foundation Lecture in Washington D.C, the Homer Jones Memorial Lecture at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the Bagehot speech at The Economist, the luncheon keynote at the IMF's Annual Research Conference, and others at several CFA society and financial industry events. He appears regularly on television, particularly BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business and CNN.
He holds a master's degree and doctorate in economics from Oxford University and received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Cambridge University. He is an Honorary Fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge University and a Senior Global Fellow at the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies at The Wharton School.
