Mohamed T. El-Ashry was the first Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and subsequently a Senior Fellow with the UN Foundation.

Mohamed T. El-Ashry obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in 1959 from the University of Cairo, and a Master of Science in 1963 and Doctor of Philosophy in Geology, in 1966, from the University of Illinois.^[1][2]

El-Ashry was a lecturer and researcher at Cairo University, Pan-American-U.A.R. Oil Company, Wilkes University, and the Environmental Defense Fund. After that, he became a Senior Vice President of the World Resources Institute (WRI) and as the Director of Environmental Quality with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).^[3]

He later joined World Bank where he held the position of Chief Environmental Advisor (1991–1993), Chief Environmental Advisor to the President (1993–1994), and Chief Executive Officer and Chairman (1994–2003).^[4] From World Bank, he joined Global Environment Facility (GEF) where he became the CEO and Chairman of the organisation for eleven years (1991-2002).^[5][6]

El-Ashry research focused on water resource management,^[7][8][9] environmental resource management and development,^[10][11][12] and energy policies that promotes renewable energy.^[13][14]

El-Ashry was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America,^[15] a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,^[6] a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences in 1990,^[16] and a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 2001,^[3] and a Senior Fellow with the UN Foundation.^[15][17]

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2012 advising on renewable energy,^[18] and a board member World Wide Fund for Nature, Resources for the Future, and Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century.^[15][6]

• Mohamed Thameur Chaibi
• Driss Bensari