Web Page of Dr Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan

About Dr Badri Narayanan Gopalakrishnan

Dr Badri is an economist and strategy leader with about quarter century of global experience. Academically, he is an Affiliate Faculty Member at University of Washington Seattle, Oregon State University and Boston College. He has published 15 books and over 200 research papers and articles in most reputed global outlets such as Nature, cited about 6000 times by academic journals and almost all major global media outlets like FT, CNN, BBC, NYT, WSJ, NDTV, Mirror Now, KOMO News, etc.

At NITI Aayog, Govt of India, he headed the verticals of Trade and Commerce, Strategic Economic Dialogue, International Cooperation and Vision India@2047, as Joint Secretary Government of India. He has also been an advisor to Ministers of Commerce, Economy and Planning in Saudi Arabia, Trade in UAE, EFTA Secretariat, EU Trade Commissioner, etc. He has been analyzing a wide range of economic, disruptive technology, environmental/energy, labor/HR, international trade & public health issues. He has informed decision makers (and been one himself) in major economic policies like free trade agreements, technology regulations, labor policies, environmental policies etc.

He has also been a consultant with the ILO, WHO, IMF, McKinsey, KPMG, PWC, CGD, Harvard University, LSE, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Tata Group, Aditya Birla Group and several other international organizations as well as government/private bodies across the world – in countries in the Middle East, Europe, North America and Africa. He was awarded by the India Australia Business and Community Alliance in 2022 for Excellence in Trade and Investment. He has also been engaged with the startup community across the world as an advisor and co-founder. He founded a consulting firm named Infinite Sum Modelling in 2015, which has a global presence, with offices/centers in Vancouver, Seattle, Los Angeles, Riyadh, Accra and New Delhi, and advised over 100 client orgs globally, including Fortune 500 firms, top leaders in the govts, industry associations and international organizations.

He has presented his work in over 34 countries across the world, including several times as a Key Note/Plenary Speaker. He has received numerous awards and fellowships such as the 2021 IABCA Trade Impact award for Australia-India relations, 2002 PhD scholarship from IGIDR (RBI), a 2005 Ford Foundation Grant to participate in GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project) short course and Fellowship to join the First Meeting with Nobel Laureates in Economic Sciences Lindau, in 2004. He also serves on the Board of GTAP, Dhrishti Foundation Trust, DCF and Fundamental Action and Research Foundation.

I’m an economist, currently working with Government of India (NITI Aayog) as Fellow, where I was formerly Lead Advisor and Head, Trade and Commerce and Strategic Economic Dialogue, International Co-operation and Vision India@2047, at the rank of Joint Secretary (Equivalent to Assistant Secretary in the US). 

He has also been wearing a few different hats, while being based in Seattle, USA:

1. Founder and Director, Infinite Sum Modelling LLC. Seattle WA USA

2. Courtesy Faculty Member, Oregon State University , Corvallis, OR USA

3. Affiliate Faculty Member in Applied Economcis, Boston College Boston MA USA

4. Affiliate Faculty Member at the School of Environment and Forestry Sciences, University of Washington Seattle USA

5. Senior Fellow, European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE, Brussels) 

6. Distinguished Fellow, Pahle India Foundation New Delhi

7. Visiting Senior Fellow, Center for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP, New Delhi)

8. Consultant, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER, New Delhi) 

9. Member, Advisory Board, United Nations ESCAP ARTNET and consultant with UN, World Bank, ILO, WHO, FAO, etc.

10. Member, Board of Directors, British American Business Council (BABC)

11. Senior Consultant, General Authority of Foreign Trade, Saudi Arabia

12. Co-founder and Director, Policy Modeling Association for Inclusive Development, a Section 8 non-profit organization in New Delhi, India

13. Advisor: Athena Infonomics, Datanetiix, Global India Trade and Cultural Council, MSME Business Forum India, Global MSME Devnet Pvt Ltd , Mentorcloud , Diatoz, GLO-India and a few more companies/organizations.

Formerly:

Lead Consultant – Economic Modelling at McKinsey and Company

Research Economist and Affiliate Faculty Member, Purdue University

In 2017, he was also awarded with the title ‘GTAP Research Fellow’