Asif Saleh

Asif Saleh is a Bangladeshi development professional. He is the current Executive Director of BRAC, Bangladesh. one of the world's largest development organisations. Saleh has been instrumental in the growth of BRAC, which operates across Asia and Africa, focusing on areas such as poverty graduation, and climate change.

Education
Saleh attended the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business from 2000 to 2003 and obtained a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and Management. Before that, he attended North Carolina State University from 1992 to 1996 and earned a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. He studied at St. Joseph Higher Secondary School from 1981 to 1989.

Career
Asif Saleh worked at Goldman Sachs for 12 years, ending his term as an Executive Director. Prior to that, he worked at Glaxo Wellcome, NorTel, and IBM. In 2001, Saleh founded Drishtipat, which supported members of the Bangladeshi community living outside Bangladesh to support social development in Bangladesh.

He joined the Access to Information (A2i) Program at the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s Office in 2008, leading the policy effort to expand affordable broadband connectivity across Bangladesh. He joined BRAC as a Director in 2011, and in 2012 he was made a Senior Director. In 2019, he was appointed as the Executive Director of BRAC Bangladesh.

Saleh chairs BRAC IT Services Limited, BRAC Kumon Limited, co-chairs BRACNet, and is on the Board of BRAC Bank, bKash, and edotco Bangladesh Ltd. He is the board chair of non-profit organisations Bangladesh Institute of Informatics and Development (IID).

Saleh is a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington. He is a member of the Millions Learning International Advisory Group at the Brookings Institution, the advisory group of South Africa-based Innovation Edge, the global board for Generation Unlimited, and a member of the global governing council of Water Resource Group 2030.

Awards and recognition
Saleh was recognised by Asia Society’s Asia 21 program in 2008, the Bangladeshi American Foundation in 2007, selected as an Asia 21 Fellow in 2012 and as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2013.