Director Datuk Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim is currently the Director at the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Secretariat.  She is also the Honorary Fellow at MASA Institute, Senior Advisor of Edvolution, and Board Member of Teach for Malaysia Foundation and Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka. Datuk Habibah is the former Director General of Education Malaysia and has served the Ministry of Education Malaysia for more than 34 years before retiring on 6 April 2021.  She has extensive experience in policy development, macro planning, programme implementation and evaluation.  She played an instrumental role in the development of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, Education Development Master Plan 2006-2010 and Education Development 2001-2010.

Her publications (with other authors) include: 21st Century Competencies and Structural Education Reform, in APEC 2018 Report on Education and Economic Development (2019); Model, Instruments and Unity Index and their Impact on the Unity Policy, in Creative Education 2019, 10(12); and Formulating Policies for Gender-Responsive STEM Education, in IBE-UNESCO (2017), A Resource Pack for Gender-Responsive STEM Education.