Joel Hellman

In July 2015, he was selected as Dean in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University as well as Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Development. He introduced the first joint undergraduate degree at Georgetown University in Business and Global Affairs together with the McDonough School of Business. He launched the Center on Security and Emerging Technology to provide policy-oriented research analysis on how new technologies are reshaping the global security landscape.

He managed the World Bank’s governance operations in the South Asia region, covering such countries as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In 2013, he was appointed to lead the World Bank’s global work in Fragile and Conflict Affected Countries based in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2015, he was appointed as the World Bank’s first Chief Institutional Economist, leading the World Bank’s research and analytical work on governance and institutions.

In 2000, Hellman moved to the World Bank, serving in a variety of roles across multiple countries and regions. He led World Bank operations on governance and anti-corruption in the Europe and Central Asia Region. He served as Governance Adviser in Indonesia and led the World Bank’s response to the East Asian tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia.

In 1997, Hellman joined the Office of the Chief Economist at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development in London, where he served as senior political councillor. At the EBRD, he was editor of the annual Transition Report, which surveyed progress in the transition to market economics and democratic politics in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

Hellman began his academic career as an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University and a Fellow at the Harriman Institute for Russian and East European Studies. From 1993 to 1997, he was an assistant professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University and a Fellow at the Davis Center for Russian and East European Studies.

Joel S. Hellman (born March 1, 1963) is the dean and distinguished professor in the practice of development at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He was appointed in July 2015 and led the school, the oldest school of international affairs in the United States, during the celebration of its centennial anniversary in 2019. Formerly, he was chief institutional economist at the World Bank.