Dr. El-Ashry received his B.S. with honors in 1959 from Cairo University, M.Sc. in 1963 and PhD in 1966 from the University of Illinois. He is Senior Fellow with the UN Foundation and former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). His previous positions include: Professor at Wilkes University, Chief Environmental Adviser and Director of the Environment at the World Bank, Senior Vice President of World Resource Institute, Assistant Professor at Cairo University, Member Task Forces of - the UN S.G High-Level Panel on system-Wide Coherence, World Water Commission, International Commission on Climate Change and Development. His research interests include: Water Resource Management, Arid Land development, Environmental management and Energy Policy. He has served as advisor on climate change to 13 former Presidents and Prime Ministers with 12 other Global Leaders. He is also a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and TWAS, Board member of WWF and AFED. He has published 5 books, more than 200 papers, 9 monographs and research reports. He has received several international awards including "Champions of the Earth."