As the deputy director of the Education Practice, Marcel Ricou helps lead IREX’s strategy and learning agenda for expanding access to quality and relevant education and training globally. He supports the management of staff over 100 staff across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Eurasia, and Central America. He serves as project director for the Kosovo Private-Sector Led Workforce Development Activity which aims to harness the leadership of the private sector to better align worker skills with market needs leading to improved livelihoods for Kosovars and economic productivity in Kosovo.

Prior to joining IREX, Marcel worked at the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) where he led teams in Morocco and Cote d’Ivoire to design education and workforce development investments covering teacher training, school infrastructure, school management, integrating technology in the classroom, improved data for decision-making, and governance reform to enhance accountability. He also led an inter-departmental initiative to scale Results-Based Financing approaches and co-authored an analysis of MCC's first nine investments in TVET programming that informed the design of second generation TVET strengthening in Georgia and Kosovo.

Marcel holds an master of arts degree in international relations and economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a bachelor of arts in international relations from Franklin University Switzerland. Prior to joining MCC, Marcel served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon. He is fluent in French.