With a career spanning almost 4 decades, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar is widely respected for her achievements, making history as the first woman to serve as Governor State Bank of Pakistan, as well as the first woman Chairperson of the Pakistan Stock Exchange. She is also the Chairperson Board of Directors of Karandaaz. She won two consecutive awards -Asia’s Best Central Bank Governor from Emerging Markets and Banker’s Trust. In 2008, The Wall Street Journal Asia also recognized her as one of the top ten professional women of Asia. Dr. Shamshad Akhtar served as the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and as the tenth Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. She served in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for almost 15 years, rising through the ranks to positions including Special Senior Advisor to the President of ADB, and the Bank’s Director-General of the South-East Asia region. She has also served as a member of the Pakistan Economic Advisory Committee and the Governing Council of the Pakistan Statistics Bureau.

Celebrating Pakistan’s 75th Independence Day, FWBL pays tribute to iconic women whose legacies are strongly interwoven in the fabric of the nation’s heritage. Their remarkable achievements, in their own unique way, contribute to who we are as a nation today.