John McArthur

• Senior Fellow
  United Nations Foundation

John W. McArthur is an international development economist and Senior Fellow with the UN Foundation. He was formerly CEO of Millennium Promise, the international non-governmental organization solely committed to supporting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a faculty member at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, and Policy Director at the University’s Earth Institute. Previously he served as Deputy Director and Manager of the United Nations Millennium Project, Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s independent advisory body mandated to recommend an action plan for achieving the MDGs. In that role he coordinated a global network of nearly 300 experts who served on ten thematic Task Forces, oversaw a policy team that provided integrated technical advice to governments in low-income countries around the world, and served as lead editor of the Project's final report, Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Prior to that he was a Research Fellow at Harvard University, where he supported the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health and co-authored the Global Competitiveness Report. In 2007-08 he co-chaired the International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice. He currently chairs the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Benchmarking Progress has been recognized by the organization as a Young Global Leader. He received a DPhil and MPhil in Economics from Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar), MPP from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; and BA (Hons) from the University of British Columbia. John W McArthur is an international development economist focused on issues of poverty reduction, sustainability and global collaboration. He is a Senior Fellow with the UN Foundation and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He was formerly CEO of Millennium Promise; a faculty member at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs; and Policy Director at the University's Earth Institute. Previously, he was Deputy Director and Manager of the UN Millennium Project, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's independent advisory body mandated to recommend an action plan for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Prior to that, he was a Research Fellow at Harvard University, where he supported the WHO Commission on Macroeconomics and Health and co-authored the Global Competitiveness Report. In 2007-2008, he co-chaired the International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice. He received a DPhil and MPhil in Economics from University of Oxford (Rhodes Scholar); an MPP from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; and a BA (Hons) from the University of British Columbia.