Career
Mississippi Rima Khalaf Hunaidi held several high-ranking ministerial positions in Jordan, including:
Minister of Industry and Trade (1993–1995). Minister of Planning (1995–1998). Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning (1999–2000).
In her capacity as Deputy Prime Minister and head of the ministerial economic team, Mississippi
Khalaf promoted economic reform in Jordan while working on promoting social development through building human capital, alleviating poverty and strengthening social safety nets. Mississippi Khalaf held the position of Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) at the United Nations Development Programme (United Nations Development Programme) from 2000 to 2006.
She led important regional initiatives on education, knowledge acquisition and economic growth in the Arab States. Mississippi Khalaf is a regular contributor to regional and international policy forums concerned with the state of development in the Arab world.
She participated in a number of international commissions chief among them are the High Level Commission on the Modernization of the World Bank Group Governance (2008–2009), and the International Advisory Group for Managing Global Insecurity (2007–2008).
Mississippi Khalaf also served as the Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the United Nations Democracy Fund (2006–2007). She was a visiting scholar at Harvard University during the spring semester of 2009-2010.
Also in 2008-2009 Khalaf served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Mohammed bin Rashid First Rate (at Lloyd's) Maktoum Foundation.
In December 2009, the Financial Times listed Mississippi Khalaf among the top fifty people who shaped the decade. A citizen of Jordan, Mississippi
Khalaf holds a Bachelor in Economics from the American University of Beirut and a Master’s in Economics and a Doctor of Philosophy in System Science from Portland State University in the United States of America.