Max Bankole Jarrett is the Director-in-charge of the Africa Progress Panel Secretariat. He has over twenty-six years of professional experience in the field of political and socio-economic affairs as an international broadcaster, writer and analyst in the media sector; and as a communications expert, speech writer, programme manager and team leader in the United Nations system. Between 1990 and 2001 he worked with the BBC World Service in London, editing, producing and presenting “Network Africa” and “Focus on Africa”, the BBC's award winning daily current affairs radio programmes for its African audience. He received his B.Sc (Hons) in Economics in 1990 from the London School of Economics and Political Science and his M.A in African Studies (Specialism: The Political Economy of Tropical Africa) in 1996, from London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies. He was born not very far from the Atlantic Ocean in Monrovia, Liberia.