Dr. Samir Abdullah Ali is a Palestinian national with a PhD. in Economics. Since December 2009, he has served as the Director General of the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute (MAS), a position which he previously held from 2004-2007. Dr. Abdullah served as the Minister of Planning and Minister of Labor in the Palestinian Government from June 2007 to May 2009. Dr. Abdullah began his career in June 1984 as a researcher and member of the editorial board at Al Katib Monthly Magazine in Jerusalem. Since February 1985 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Al-Najah National University. He chaired the Economics Department from 1986 to 1989 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1990. He spent the academic year 1990-1991 as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Dr. Abdullah has a long and active role in voluntary community development. He was the Co-founder and Chairman of the Arab Center for Agricultural Development (ACAD) 1999-2007; Chairman of the Palestinian Economists Association 1993-1997; Founder of the Palestine Center for Peace and Democracy (PCPD) established in 1992, and its Chairman 1992-1996 and 2004-2007; Member of the Board of the National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission for Higher Education 2002-2006; and Member of the Advisory Board of the Micro-enterprise and Micro-credit Project (MMP) of UNRWA in 1999 until 2007. He is also a co-founder of the Ramallah Rotary club in 2010, and became its President for the Rotarian year 2010/2011. In June 2009, Dr. Abdullah was selected as the Deputy Chairman of the PNA Internal Audit Committee. In October 2009, he was selected for the second time to serve as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Palestine Monetary Authority PMA 2009-2011. During his academic and professional career Dr. Abdullah has conducted numerous research papers on the Palestinian economy and its relation with Israel and the region.