Sir Sumantra "Suma" Chakrabarti (born 1959) is a British former civil servant who served as president of the

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

(EBRD) from July 2012 to July 2020. He was previously the highest ranking Indian in Britain's civil service, serving as

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

to the Ministry of Justice and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery from late 2007 until 2012.

Early life and education

Chakrabarti was born in 1959 in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India. He was educated at

City of London School The City of London School, also known as CLS and City, is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for Single-sex education, boys in the City of London, England, on the banks of the River Thames next to the Millennium Bridge, ...

;

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

(BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics); and the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

(MA in Development Economics).

Career in the civil service

Chakrabarti joined the UK's Overseas Development Administration (ODA), the predecessor to the

Department for International Development The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

, in 1984 as a senior economic assistant working on macroeconomics issues and UK aid projects. He previously worked in

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

on an

Overseas Development Institute ODI Global (formerly Overseas Development Institute) is a global affairs think tank, founded in 1960. Its mission is "to inspire people to act on injustice and inequality through collaborative research and ideas that matter for people and the ...

Fellowship. He was seconded by the UK government to the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

and the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

in the 1980s. On returning to the ODA in London, he became Private Secretary to the Conservative Lynda Chalker, then

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

for Overseas Development based at the Foreign Office. Chakrabarti subsequently became Head of Aid Policy and Resources. He moved to H.M. Treasury in 1996 before taking a

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

post responsible for creating the new central Performance and Innovation Unit to support the Prime Minister,

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

, co-ordinating reviews of long-term issues that cross public sector institutional boundaries. Still in the Cabinet Office, he headed the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat, also maintaining a foot in the then Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions. In 2001, returning to the Department for International Development (DfID), the successor body to the ODA, Chakrabarti became DfID Director-General for Regional Development Programmes, managing 1,200 staff in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. On 8 December 2009, he gave evidence to The Iraq Inquiry, discussing preparations for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. From 2007 to 2012, he served as a

(senior civil servant) to the UK's Ministry of Justice. During that period, he also held office as Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, and, as such, was responsible for the running of the Crown Office, under the directions of the

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

. He was appointed on 15 November 2007.

President of the EBRD

Chakrabarti served two full terms as president from 2012 to 2020. In his last weeks as EBRD President, Chakrabarti made a number of think tank appearances where he discussed the current state of international development and its principal actors.

Later career

By the end of his term at EBRD, Chakrabarti denied any immediate plans to return to the UK civil service. On July 2, 2020, ODI announced the appointment of Chakrabarti as its next Chair of the Board of Trustees. Also in 2020, he was appointed by the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

’s Regional Office for Europe to serve as a member of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, chaired by

Mario Monti Mario Monti (; born 19 March 1943) is an Italian politician, economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a Technocratic government (Italy), technocratic government in the wake of the European sov ...

. Chakrabarti serves as deputy chairman of the Council for Reforms for the

Republic of Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. He is also an adviser to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on economic development, good governance and international cooperation.

Personal life

Chakrabarti is married and has one daughter.

Offices held

References

External links

Profile on Ministry of Justice website

ODI website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chakrabarti, Suma People educated at the City of London School Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Justice Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for International Development Civil servants in the Ministry of Overseas Development Civil servants in the Cabinet Office Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Members of HM Government Economic Service Living people Alumni of New College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Sussex Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Presidents of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Indian emigrants to England 1959 births English people of Bengali descent People from Jalpaiguri Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom