Dr. Sherifa Fouad Sherif is a tenured Professor of Public Administration at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University. Dr. Sherif held the position of Vice Dean for Environment and Community Services as well as Chairperson of the Public Administration Department at Future University in Egypt (FUE). She headed The Public Administration Research and Consultation Center (PARC) at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University for three consecutive years. She has been teaching for almost twenty years in there as Public Administration, Management, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),Sustainable Development, Social Entrepreneurship, Environmental Management, Governance and Gender and Development.

Sherif is currently the Executive Director of the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. Dr. Sherif was previously the Executive Director of the National Management Institute and the Head of the Governance Center at the Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform in Egypt, alongside being the Governance Advisor to the Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform. She also serves on several ministerial committees in Egypt among them Administrative Reform, Civil Service Capacity Building, Egyptian Government Excellence Award, Egyptian Anti-Corruption Committee, Governance Indices and the African Peer Review Mechanism. Sherif is currently a member of the Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA) under the UN Economic and Social Council. She is also the lead in the "Bridging Gender Digital Divide" initiative with UNDP and Cisco, which launched in 2021.

She earned both her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration and Master’s Degree in Public Administration from The American University in Cairo. Dr. Sherif was a Chevening Scholar and received her Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Management and Public Policy from the University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom in 2001.

She has published research papers, articles and co-authored in national and international journals and was granted "Best Paper Award" for several of her publications. She is also an active member in several university partnership programs with George Washington University, George Mason University, University of Sussex, SOAS, Missouri State University, Kings College London, Hertie School of Governance, Chicago Booth and University of Cincinnati. Dr. Sherif worked as a lead consultant on several development projects with the USAID, World Bank, the Hanns Seidel Foundation, UNWOMEN, African Development Bank, OECD, EU, Care International and GIZ. In 2020, Dr. Sherif was selected as one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Egypt for her significant contributions to the socio-economic and development sectors in Egypt.