Dr. Sandile Hlatshwayo is a first-generation American, with South African and Guyanese heritage. She is an economist at the International Monetary Fund where she helps evaluate risks across the Fund’s 190 member countries through crisis prediction modeling, text-based analytics, and strategic foresight activities (e.g., wargaming). Her primary research interest is quantifying the domestic and international consequences of policy uncertainty through the use of machine-learning and natural language processing techniques. She also has previously engaged in country-specific policy work on South Africa, Madagascar, and Fiji.

Outside of her professional obligations, she mentors, advises universities on pipeline programs, sits on the board of the Sadie Collective and Black Professionals in International Affairs, as well as serving on the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of LGBTQ+ Individuals in the Economics Profession. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked in the private sector at Procter & Gamble in South Africa.

She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), a master’s in policy studies from Stanford University, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from Spelman College.