Ismail Serageldin, Director of Bibliotheca Alexandria (BA), and chair the Boards of Directors for each of the BA's affiliated research institutes and museums is Distinguished Professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He is an Egyptian national, born in Giza in 1944. Married with one son and tri-lingual: Arabic, French and English.

Dr. Serageldin serves as chair and member of a number of advisory committees for academic, research, scientific and international institutions and civil society which include the Institut d'Egypte (Egyptian Academy of Science), TWAS (Third World Academy of Sciences), the Indian National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He is former Chairman of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR, 1994-2000), Founder and former Chairman of the Global Water Partnership (GWP, 1996-2000) and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP), a microfinance program (1995-2000). Serageldin has also served in a number of capacities at the World Bank, including as Vice President for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (1992-1998), and for Special Programs (1998-2000). He has published over 50 books and monographs and over 200 papers on a variety of topics including biotechnology, rural development, sustainability, and the value of science to society. He holds a Bachelor degree of Science from Cairo University and a Masters' degree and a PhD from Harvard University and has received 18 honorary doctorates.

Education

1964 B.Sc. (First Class Honors) Cairo University 1968 M.R.P. (With Distinction) Harvard University 1972 Ph.D. Harvard University

Honorary degrees

1996 Doctor of Sociology, University of Bucharest, Romania 1996 Doctor of Agricultural Science, University of Melbourne, Australia 1997 Doctor of Science, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India 1998 Doctor of International Affairs, American University, Washington, DC, USA 1998 Doctor of Science, Punjab Agricultural University, India 1998 Doctor of Science, Tamil Nadu Veterinary & Animal Sciences Univ., India 1998 Doctor of Natural Resources Management, Ohio State Univ., USA 1999 Doctor of Science, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, India 1999 Doctor of Science, ANGRAU, Hyderabad, India 1999 Doctor of Economics and Management, CNAM, Paris, France 1999 Doctor of Science, Egerton University, Kenya 1999 Doctor of Agricultural Science, University of Tuscia, Italy 2000 Doctor of Humane Letters, American University in Cairo, Egypt 2002 Doctor of Science, SNHU, Manchester NH, USA 2003 Doctor of Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada 2004 Doctor of Letters, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia 2004 Doctor of Letters, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France 2005 Doctor of Laws degree, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

In addition, he was active in promoting NGO-Bank relations, and served as Co-Chairman of the NGO-Bank Committee (1997-99). Prior to joining the World Bank, he worked as a consultant in city and regional planning, and taught at Cairo University and Harvard University.

Publications & Speeches

Over 50 books and monographs (edited or authored) and 200 articles, book chapters, and technical papers on various topics, including: Nurturing Development (1995), Sustainability and the Wealth of Nations (1996), Architecture of Empowerment (1997), Rural Well-Being: From Vision to Action (1997, with David Steeds), The Modernity of Shakespeare (1998), Biotechnology and Biosafety (1999, with Wanda Collins), Very Special Places (1999) and Promethean Science (2000, with G. Persley).