Mark Gallagher, Ph.D.

Chief of Party, USAID Fiscal Accountability and Sustainable Trade (FAST), DevTech Systems, Inc., USA

Mark Gallagher has built a distinguished career in public financial management, domestic resource mobilization, and macroeconomics. He has pioneered methodologies and tools such as the Debt Transparency Scorecard, Tax Benchmarking, Macroeconomic Resilience Index, and COVID-19 Vulnerability Assessments, among others. Over four decades, he has led complex reform initiatives and served as a trusted advisor in the design and implementation of fiscal reforms around the world.

Mark has advised Ministers and Vice Ministers of Finance, Directors General, senior tax and budget officials, and front-line practitioners in more than two dozen countries. His professional journey includes serving as an economist at USAID and the World Bank, as a U.S. Treasury Advisor, and in senior roles at DAI and DevTech. As an independent consultant, he has supported the IMF, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Millennium Challenge Corporation, U.S. State Department, GIZ, the governments of the Netherlands, the UK (FCDO/DFID), the European Commission, and others.

His experience spans long-term postings in Liberia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Jordan. He earned his PhD in economics from George Mason University and is fluent in English, Spanish, and German.

Mark was an ICGFM individual member for many years, and served four years on the Board of Directors. He has also contributed to the field as author or co-author of books, academic research, and practitioner articles, and as adjunct professor at leading universities including Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, the University of Jordan, George Mason University, St. John’s University, Central American University (UCA) in El Salvador, and City University of New York.

Mark’s recently published book, A Seat at Their Table: Tales from Nations in Transition, brings readers behind the scenes of economic and fiscal reform across four continents, blending professional insights with human stories from four decades in development.

Mark and his wife Cathy—married for 43 years—cherish their three daughters and three granddaughters, who remain at the center of their lives.