Maliha Khan
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Maliha Khan brings three decades of leadership and expertise in gender equality. Her dedication to feminist movements and the advancement of girls’ and women’s rights began in her native Pakistan, where she launched her career by supporting development projects in marginalized areas. Early on, she focused on integrating girls and women into projects that had traditionally addressed men, learning valuable lessons about effective strategies. Her commitment to gender equality extended into her roles overseeing gender-focused program design, implementation, and evaluation at organizations such as Care and Oxfam. Dr. Khan also contributed her skills to the Rockefeller Foundation, the Asian Development Bank; and the International Water Management Institute and was the head of programs at Malala Fund before joining Women Deliver.
Drawing from her rich personal and professional background in both Pakistan and globally, Dr. Khan is a firm believer that organizations aiming to advance gender equality worldwide must represent the world’s most vulnerable girls and women to achieve meaningful change. Her extensive experience in international development programming has made her a fierce advocate for challenging and dismantling the sector’s enduring colonial and racist legacies, which continue to shape its operations, programming, language, and funding. She believes real change is possible through a deliberate and sustained effort to challenge entrenched structures and systems — a conviction that drives her leadership at Women Deliver.
Dr. Khan has also been deeply involved in academia for many years, teaching Sustainable Development and Gender Studies. She was an Associate Professor at World Learning’s SIT Graduate Institute and an Assistant Professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. She has previously served on the boards of Care International UK and Muslim Aid and is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Dr. Khan earned her PhD from the State University of New York and an MA in Social Anthropology from Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.
