Wahiduddin Mahmud obtained his PhD in economics from Cambridge University and is professor of economics at the University of Dhaka. He is also currently Chairman of South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes, Bangladesh Coutry Advisor of International Growth Centre and is on the Board of Global Development Network. He has served as a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UN-CDP) and has held teaching and research appointments at Cambridge, IDS at Sussex, IFPRI and the World Bank, among others. He is a founder and former chairman of Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) - the apex institution for funding the microfinance programmes of NGOs in Bangladesh. His current and previous assignments in Bangladesh include chairing several government commissions and committees including those related to bank reforms, national income accounting, implementation of Millennium Development Goals, and preparation of the country’s five-year development plans and perspective plans. He was a member of a non-party caretaker government of Bangladesh in charge of the ministries of finance and planning.

His authored and edited books include Adjustment and Beyond: the Reform Experience in South Asia (Macmillan Palgrave for International Economic Association), Handbook on the South Asian Economies (Edward Elgar), Seasonal Hunger and Public Policies (World Bank Publications) and The Theory and Practice of Microcredit (Routledge, UK).