Maria Heracleous is currently an Adjunct Faculty at the University of Cyprus and a member of the Cyprus Economy and Competitiveness Council. She served as executive director and member of the Board of the Central Bank of Cyprus between May 2019 and May 2024. Previously she worked at the IMF Office in Cyprus for five years, first as Senior Economist and as Lead Economist in charge of all aspects of cooperation between the Republic of Cyprus and the Fund. Before moving to Cyprus, she served as an Assistant Professor at the American University in Washington, DC, where she taught several courses in econometrics and macroeconomics. She was also a Max Weber Post-Doctoral Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. She holds a Ph.D and an MA in Economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the London School of Economics.