Gregory Chen is the Managing Director of Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative.

Mr Chen has more than 25 years of experience in poverty reduction and financial inclusion. He has lived in South Asia, including Bangladesh, for over two decades. Mr Chen brings expertise in service delivering, technical advisory and government policy reforming. He is both familiar with and supportive of BRAC’s work to combat pervasive inequality around the world, including BRAC’s Graduation approach. He has also served on BRAC International’s Supervisory Board from August 2019 to October 2021.

Prior to joining BRAC International as Managing Director, UPGI, Mr Chen was the Policy Lead in Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a global partnership of more than 30 leading development organisations that works to advance the lives of people in poverty through financial inclusion. He spent five years as CGAP’s representative to South Asia while housed at BRAC’s headquarters in Dhaka. Using action-oriented research, CGAP tests, learns and shares knowledge to build inclusive and responsible financial systems that move people out of poverty, protect their economic gains, and advance broader development goals.

He also has the experience working with leading Global South institutions and governments, providing advisory support to organisations such as ShoreBank, now Palladium Impact Capital, and influencing policy in partnership with governments and regulators across Africa and Asia. He has led multiple international teams tackling complex challenges across diverse institutional and regional settings. Mr Chen’s work focused on hands-on advisory and implementation with microfinance institutions and, for the past decade, with newer players in digital finance. This included work with digital players in the Global South, like BRAC’s own bKash, Wave Money, and development organisations such as Dvara, and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme, an NGO supporting rural livelihoods in remote northern Pakistan.

Mr Gregory Chen holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, USA with multiple publications.