Dr. Nii Moi Thompson is a distinguished economist with over 30 years’ leadership and technical experience spanning work in the United States, Ghana, and the United Nations, among others.  His areas of expertise include public sector economics; economic growth and employment creation; development planning; local economic development (LED), and productivity (with specific interest in labour and multi-factor productivity as a prerequisite for transforming post-colonial economies).   
Between 2014 and 2017, he served simultaneously as the director-general of the National Development Planning Commission and the economic advisor to the President of Ghana.  During this period, he led the preparation of Ghana’s 40-Year National Development Plan (2018-2057) by the Commission as well as Ghana’s team in the preparation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.  He presented Ghana’s first progress report on the SDGs at the United Nations in New York in 2016.  As director-general, he ensured that the SDGs and the objectives of the AU’s Agenda 2063 were adequately incorporated into Ghana’s national development agenda. 
After a three-year stint with the United Nations in South Africa, he was appointed in February 2025 by President Mahama in his second term this time as the chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) as well as his senior advisor on the SDGs. He combines the work of the Commission and the SDGs Advisory Unit with the assistance of a dedicated staff of specialists from both the Unit and the Commission. 
Among other things, he has also held the following positions:

1. Senior economist, Bureau of Fiscal and Economic Analysis, New York City 
2. Senior economist and acting deputy resident representative, UNDP, South Africa 
3.  Policy advisor, Government of Sierra Leone, ILO, Freetown, Sierra Leone 
4. Technical advisor/consultant, Office of the Prime Minister, Ethiopia 
5. Consultant, extractives and economic development in Liberia (UNDP) 
6. Consultant, export growth and diversification in Liberia (World Bank) 
7. Chief technical advisor on productivity ecosystems, ILO, South Africa 
8.  Memberships of boards and public entities in Ghana: 
9. Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) 
10. National Council of Tertiary Education 
11. Ghana Export Promotion Centre 
12. Member, Economic Management Team 
13. Member, Presidential Advisory Group on the Economy 
14. Member, Governing Council, Institute for Local Government Studies 
15. Member, Government of Ghana negotiation team with the IMF (2015) 
16. Central Tender Review Board, Ministry of Finance 
17. NDPC-Ministry of Finance Committee on Budget Approvals for MDAs 
18. High-level national committee on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 
19. Committee to integrate SDGs (and AU’s Agenda 2063) into Ghana’s national development agenda.

Dr. Thompson holds a PhD in Development Economics and Public Policy from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, with a master’s degree in international economics from the State University of New York (Albany), and a B.A. in economics (magna cum laude) from the City University of New York (Brooklyn College).
He's a member of the American Economic Association.