Wharton Faculty & Staff >> Biography

Mari Pangestu is the Minister of Tourism and Creative Industries for the Republic of Indonesia. She is the first female Chinese Indonesian to hold a cabinet position in Indonesia.

Born in Jakarta, Pangestu obtained her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Australian National University, and her Doctorate in economics from the University of California at Davis, United States, in 1986. Prior to becoming the Minister of Trade, she was active for a long time in various trade forums such as PECC and has been one of the foremost economics experts in Indonesia. She was an instructor in the Faculty of Economics in the University of Indonesia.

As an economist, she is widely published in the Indonesian and international media. She serves on the Board of External Editors of the Asian Journal of Business (University of Michigan) and Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies (Australian National University). She is also the co-coordinator of the Task Force on Poverty and Development for the United Nations Millennium Project.