After obtaining a PhD in Japanese Economy in 1986 from the Australian National University, Sheard took up a postdoctoral fellowship and later a faculty position at the Australian National University and in July 1993 joined the faculty of Osaka University. In January 1995, he joined Baring Asset Management as the Strategist of the Japan Investment Team and was promoted to the position of Head in September 1997. Sheard joined Lehman Brothers, Inc. Tokyo as Managing Director and Chief Economist Asia in September 2000 and was appointed as an Outside Director to ORIX under "a Company with Committees" structure in June 2003. Sheard was appointed Global Chief Economist of Lehman Brothers, Inc. in April 2006 and Managing Director, Economics Research of Barclays Capital in September 2008. He assumed his present position of Global Chief Economist and Head of Economic Research at Nomura Securities International, Inc. in November 2008.

Paul Sheard was born in 1954.