The governing board of the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and its chairman Eric Gonsalves are delighted to announce the selection of Yamini Aiyar as the new President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research. She will assume her responsibilities from 1 September, 2017.

Yamini Aiyar, currently a Senior Research fellow at CPR, has had a distinguished career in the field of social policy and development. Yamini’s research on social accountability, elementary education, decentralisation and administrative reforms has received both academic and popular recognition. She has published significant papers and contributed widely to public debate. At CPR, she founded the Accountability Initiative. Under her leadership, the Accountability Initiative pioneered a new approach to tracking public expenditures for social policy programmes including the country’s largest expenditure-tracking survey in elementary education.

Yamini is an alumnus of the London School of Economics, Cambridge University and St. Stephen’s college, New Delhi. She is a TED fellow and a founding member of the International Experts Panel of the Open Government Partnership. Yamini has also been a member of the World Economic Forum’s global council on good governance.

The CPR Board is pleased to have found a new President with exceptional leadership skills and integrity, who will take forward the Board’s commitment to excellence and academic freedom at CPR.

The CPR Board also takes this opportunity to thank the outgoing President Pratap Bhanu Mehta for his exemplary leadership of the last 13 years. During his tenure, Dr. Mehta infused CPR with renewed intellectual excitement and rigour, leading the institution to its current standing as one of India’s leading public policy think tanks.

As Yamini Aiyar takes over from Pratap Bhanu Mehta, CPR would like to thank all CPR’s partners, interlocutors, and funders who have supported the organisation over the years with engagement, advice, and support. Going forward, we will continue to count on you and are confident that CPR will scale new heights with your backing.