Dr. Shah serves as president of The Rockefeller Foundation, a global institution with a mission to promote the well-being of humanity around the world. In 2009, he was appointed USAID administrator by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Prior to his appointment at USAID, Shah served as chief scientist and undersecretary for research, education, and economics at the United States Department of Agriculture where he created the National Institute for Food and Agriculture. In October 2023, Dr. Shah published Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens with Simon & Schuster’s Simon Element imprint. In the book, Dr. Shah shares a dynamic new model for realizing transformative change, inspired by his own work and that of The Foundation on some of the biggest humanitarian efforts of the 21st century.