Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. The first woman and first African to hold the position.

She is an economist and international development expert with over 40 years of experience. She was Chair of the Board of Gavi, Vaccine Alliance, African Risk Capacity and Co-Chair of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor at Lazard Ltd. and sat on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. 

She served as Nigeria’s first female and longest serving Finance Minister (7 years) and was also the first female Foreign Minister. She spent a 25-year career at the World Bank rising to the No.2 position of Managing Director, Operations.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala is the recipient of numerous honors and has authored several books. She holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard University and a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.