Dr Haifa Jamal Al-Lail has been President of Effat University (EU) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia since 1998. She is a native of Saudi Arabia, and received a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Southern California. A winner of the Distinguished Arabian Woman Award in 2005, she is renowned for her expertise in privatization and women empowerment, and has developed and taught undergraduate and graduate courses on topics such as public administration and public policy. Before joining Effat University, Haifa was the first Dean of the Girls’ Campus of King Abdulaziz University, a Visiting Scholar at John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2001, and a participant in the Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration in Bryn Mawr College in 2000.