Iqbal Quadir founded GrameenPhone, the largest telephone company in Bangladesh. From 2001-2005, he was a fellow at Harvard's JFK School of Government, teaching how technologies can affect change in developing countries. He is now co-founder and director of the MIT Program for Developmental Entrepreneurship, and organizing projects providing electricity, fertilizers, and potable water in Bangladesh and other countries.

He received an M.B.A.(1987) and an M.A. (1983) from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. with Honors (1981) from Swarthmore College.