Alexander Barkawi is founder and director of the Council on Economic Policies (CEP). Prior to his decision to build up CEP, he was the managing director of SAM Indexes and thus responsible for developing the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) into a key reference point for sustainability investing. In that capacity, he drove worldwide marketing, sales and licensing as well as media and public relations for the DJSI family and other indexes compiled by SAM for more than nine years. Before joining SAM, Alex took the lead in internationalizing the activities of oikos – an organization that promotes sustainability issues in teaching and research at faculties for economics and management worldwide. Originally started as an initiative in St. Gallen, Switzerland, oikos today comprises more than 30 chapters on four continents. Alex continues to be engaged in the organization as president of the board of trustees of the oikos foundation.
Alex is a graduate in economics (M.A.) of the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, where he also wrote his PhD thesis on “Social Change in Egypt in the 1990s”.