TOR027: To Excel Consulting with Nesreen Barakat

Nesreen Barakat has more than 20 years of experience in the area of economic and social development, working with government, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector in Jordan. Recently, she served as a Minister of Social Development, Minister of Public Sector Development and General Director of the National Aid Fund. Prior to that, she was a Council Member at the Greater Amman Municipality, Economic Advisor to the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) and a Director of the Competitiveness Unit at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation. 

As an entrepreneur, in 2005, Nesreen founded To Excel Consulting and Associates, a company focused on the provision of consulting services related to socio-economic, administrative and local development studies. Nesreen has extensive experience in managing and implementing result oriented technical assistance projects: she was the lead of the Enhancing Productivity Component (Economic Development Program) at SABEQ, a USAID funded Program, and previously held the position of the Manager of the Policy Support and Institutional Strengthening Component at EJADA, an EU-funded program. 

Nesreen is a member of the UNWOMEN NGO Advisory Group in Jordan, member of the Business and Professional Women Association (BPWA), board member of Amman Arab University, fellowship of Vital Voices and a founding member of the Jordan Corporate Governance Association, the Competition Association and the National Global Compact Network in Jordan. She served on the boards of Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO), the National Fund for Enterprise Support (NAFES), and was a member in a variety of task force committees including the National Agenda Investment Task Force. 

Nesreen holds an MBA degree from the Business School at Durham University in the UK and B.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the University of Jordan. She also received intensive international training at Harvard and Berkeley Universities on enhancing the competitiveness of nations, scenario planning, strategy development and implementation.