Indian economist Kalpana Kochhar to join Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

ted Indian ecomist Kalpana Kochhar, who heads Human Resources Department of IMF, is retiring next month after serving for over three decades with organisation to join Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Kochhar, who served in various senior positions during her three decades at International Monetary Fund, will retire on July 30, and will join as Director of Development Policy and Finance, at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IMF anunced on Wednesday.

In her 33 years at Fund, Kalpana provided a shining example of strong leadership and dedication to Fund's mission. She brought a keen intellect and remarkable passion to her work and always focused her efforts on helping those we serve. Her work helped to shape Fund and, while we wish her very best in her new role, she will be sorely missed, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.

As Director of Human Resources, Kochhar oversaw IMF's HR policies and recruitment and retention of more than 4,000 IMF employees from nearly 150 countries based in Washington, DC, and in overseas offices.

In past five years, she led successful review and modernisation of IMF's compensation and benefits programme, as well as successful implementation of a large and complex human capital manment IT system which helped to simplify, streamline and modernise HR at Fund.

From start to finish, Kalpana provided manment team and Executive Board with sound advice and displayed excellent judgment in all HR-related matters, Georgieva said.

Throughout her career, Kalpana has pioneered change in institution, particularly on and emerging market issues, while always exhibiting a positive and caring manment style, she added.

Georgieva said Kochar's caring spirit was especially evident during current health crisis.

This caring spirit was especially evident during current health crisis when, spurred on by her compassion, HRD worked hard to effect policy and or interventions to ensure that staff continued to feel a sense of belonging and connectedness. She leaves a distinguished legacy, and opened an admirable pathway for ors to follow, Georgieva said.

As Deputy Director in Asia and Pacific Department (APD), she was responsible for setting up and executing IMF's strategy for Asia, including guiding analytical work and policy advice to a number of Asian countries to help promote ecomic growth, financial stability, and equality.

As Deputy Director in Strategy, Policy, and Review Department (SPR), she led research and policy formulation on equity, income inequality, jobs and growth, and structural reforms.

In SPR, she also oversaw a comprehensive review of IMF's surveillance policy and practices aimed at enhancing engment with member countries.

Before se roles, Kochhar was Assistant Director and Senior Personnel Manr in Research Department. In between her Fund positions, Kochhar was seconded to World Bank on a two-year stint as Chief Ecomist for South Asia Region, lending her vast kwledge and experience on Asia to Bank's work in region.

re, she pioneered work on trade and financial integration in South Asia, and established a high-level advisory group of ecomists and foreign policy specialists from region to assist Bank in se areas, a media release said.

Kochhar started at IMF as an Ecomist in 1988. Over years, she built on her expertise in Asian regional matters with desk ecomist positions on Sri Lanka and Philippines, and by leading work on Korea and Malaysia during Asian financial crisis of late 1990s.

Prior to joining Fund, she was an Assistant Professor at George Washington University in Washington DC.

Kochhar is also an accomplished author, and her research on Asia, , and a variety of development issues has appeared in numerous IMF working papers, Staff Discussion tes, books, blogs, and publications including widely circulated Finance and Development magazine, IMF said in a media release.