Dr. Heather Taylor-Strauss
Economist at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP)
Dr. Heather Taylor-Strauss has 17 years of experience in the field of foreign direct investment (FDI) for sustainable development. She is currently an Economist at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), where she leads the organization's technical assistance and capacity building work on FDI promotion, attraction, and facilitation. The main focus of her work is supporting developing countries in climate and digital FDI attraction, as well as enhancing FDI's impact on gender outcomes. Since joining UN ESCAP, Heather has implemented 35 investment promotion projects across 22 member States and spearheaded 66 workshops for Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) in 40 countries. She has authored 27 publications on international investment, worked with 22 developing country IPAs (national and subnational levels) to develop and implement FDI strategies, and assisted 7 countries in revising their investment laws and incentives. Within Central Asia, Heather has been working with investment promotion agencies in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to provide capacity building and technical assistance to attract manufacturing and digital service FDI that is also export enhancing. Prior to UN ESCAP, Heather worked at the Asian Development Bank, Goethe University Frankfurt, the Sadar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, and Trinity College, focusing on research and policy analysis of FDI from emerging markets into developed countries. Heather holds a PhD in Economics from Goethe University Frankfurt, a Master of Arts in Global Political Economy from the University of Kassel, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, International Relations and Anthropology from Syracuse University. Each of her degrees she received with distinguished honors. She is fluent in English and German.