Pingfan Hong was appointed Director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division (DPAD) effective 1 July 2014.

A Chinese national, Pingfan Hong joined the United Nations in 1989 and has since worked mostly in the areas of economic research and policy analysis, particularly global economic outlook, macroeconomic policies, and international policy coordination. Since April 2013, Dr. Hong has been serving dual roles as Acting Director of DPAD and Chief of the Global Economic Monitoring Unit. He is the lead author and coordinator of the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) and has also worked extensively with Project LINK in global modelling and forecasting. Dr. Hong worked as an Officer in the State Planning Commission of China and as a Research Fellow and Assistant to Professor Lawrence Klein at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, a Dual Master in Computer Sciences and Management Sciences from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and a Bachelor in Engineering from Wu Xi Institute of Light Industrial Technology. He is the World Bank McNamara Fellow of 1985.