In Feb 2021, Ryadh M. Alkhareif became the Deputy Minister for International Affairs. Prior to that, he was the Alternate Executive Director for Saudi Arabia at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Dr. Alkhareif was a member of the Executive Board, which is the policy and decision-making body of the IMF. Prior to joining the Fund, Dr. Alkhareif was the Head of the Studies Division at the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). He was responsible for running SAMA’s main macroeconomic models. Dr. Alkhareif was also in charge of coordinating the publication process for SAMA’s Working Papers, its primary research publications. Dr. Alkhareif received a double Master's degree in Economics from both the University of Oregon and the University of Kansas, and a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Kansas. He received extensive training at the State Street Global Advisors. Dr. Alkhareif participated in the High Potentials Leadership Program and Leadership in Financial Organization Program at Harvard Business School, as well as other executive programs at MIT. Dr. Alkhareif has also published a book on "Macroeconomic Policies and Econometric Models for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". Dr. Alkhareif has more than 15 years of experience in the economic field through his work at the IMF and SAMA. Mr. Alkhareif has published a number of papers in peer reviewed journals, and has co-authored the book “Advances in Monetary Policy Design” with William Barnett, a pioneer of the Divisia monetary indexes. The Center for Financial Stability (CFS) in New York provides direct links to some of Dr. Alkhareif’s scientific publications. Dr. Alkhareif represented Saudi Arabia at the G20 Framework Working Group (FWG) during 2016-2019. He also contributed to the formulation of the FWG Priorities under the Saudi G20 Presidency. Dr. Alkhareif is a member of the Society for Economic Measurement in the USA, and the Saudi Economic Association. In August 2014, Dr. Alkhareif received the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Economic Sciences Young Researcher Award.