Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is currently the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She is a renowned economist and international development expert with over 30 years of experience.

She was Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (2016 – 2020), the African Risk Capacity (2014 – 2020) and Co-Chair of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor at Lazard and sat on the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. She was appointed as an AU COVID-19 Special Envoy and WHO COVID-19 Special Envoy.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala served twice as Nigeria’s Finance Minister (2003-2006, 2011-2015 and spent a 25-year career at the World Bank rising to the No.2 position of Managing Director. She was named by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 greatest world leaders in 2015, and by Forbes for five consecutive years as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world. In 2014, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was recognised by Time magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala graduated with an A.B. magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard University, and holds a PhD in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has received numerous honours, including Honorary Doctorates from Yale University, Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania.