WomanSG Booklet 01202016

Outstanding
Women Leaders
December 2015
WomanSG.org

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Outstanding Women Leaders
December 2015
WomanSG
Campaign to Elect a Woman
UN Secretary-General

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Message from the Campaign Chair
WomanSG was launched in winter 2015 by a group of like-minded women
representing academia, the private sector, and civil society with long records
of engagement with the United Nations. Through initial discussions, we
decided that the time had come for a woman to lead the Organization and we
formed a Core Planning Group to enact a plan of action and outreach to
achieve our goal.
Since the birth of the UN in 1945, eight men from Norway, Sweden, Burma,
Austria, Peru, Egypt, Ghana and South Korea have filled this important
position. However, we have yet to see a woman. There are female presidents,
prime ministers, chancellors, foreign ministers, distinguished diplomats and
other with significant experience in foreign affairs and multilateralism who
deserve to be considered. The rationale that there are not enough qualified
women to choose from is no longer valid. Women constitute half of the
world’s population and WomanSG believes that it is time for women to be
represented at the highest levels of intergovernmental decision-making and
leadership.
We understand that the Member States of the UN have never elected
someone from the permanent-five countries as Secretary-General, but they
have also never elected a woman or someone from Eastern Europe. If we
want to change the way the UN Secretary-General is chosen, we must not be
restricted by traditions that may be changed over time. Therefore, you will
see listed here outstanding women from around the world, including some
who are very accomplished from the P-5.
On behalf of everyone involved in WomanSG, I present to you the group of
Outstanding Women Leaders the campaign has identified as qualified for the
job of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
In 2016, the United Nations will elect the 9th
Secretary-General and the time
is right to elect a woman.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jean Krasno
Core Planning
Group
Dr. Jean Krasno
Campaign Chair
Patricia Ackerman
Charlotte Bunch
Barbara Crossette
Dr. Anne Marie Goetz
Karen Gaucher
Dr. Melissa Labonte
Dulcie Leimbach
Shazia Z. Rafi
Gillian Sorensen

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by country
Argentina Susana Malcorra 32
Bangladesh Ameerah Haq 22
Brazil Maria Luiza Viotti 42
Bulgaria Irina Bokova
Kristalina Georgieva
10
16
Canada Louise Arbour
Louise Fréchette
Michaëlle Jean
6
15
25
Chile Michelle Bachelet 8
Colombia María Ángela Holguín 24
Costa Rica Christiana Figueres
Rebeca Grynspan
14
20
Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović
Vesna Pusić
18
38
Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt 41
Germany Angela Kane
Angela Merkel
27
33
Georgia Tinatin Khidasheli 28
France Christine Lagarde 29
Finland Tarja Halonen 21
Ireland Mary Robinson 39
Italy Federica Mogherini 34
Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 26
Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė
Raimonda Murmokaitė
19
35
Luxembourg Sylvie Lucas 30
Mexico Alicia Bárcena 9
Mozambique Graça Machel 31
Moldova Natalia Gherman 17
New Zealand Helen Clark 12
Nigeria Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala 36
Norway Gro Brundtland
Erna Solberg
11
40
Singapore Noeleen Heyzer 23
South Africa Navanethem (Navi) Pillay 37
Sweden Margot Wallström 43
United Kingdom Catherine Ashton 7
United States Ertharin Cousin 13

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by surname
Arbour, Louise Canada 6
Ashton, Catherine United Kingdom 7
Bachelet, Michelle Chile 8
Bárcena, Alicia Mexico 9
Bokova, Irina Bulgaria 10
Brundtland, Gro Norway 11
Clark, Helen New Zealand 12
Cousin, Ertharin United States 13
Figueres, Christiana Costa Rica 14
Fréchette, Louise Canada 15
Georgieva, Kristalina Bulgaria 16
Gherman, Natalia Moldova 17
Grabar-Kitarović, Kolinda Croatia 18
Grybauskaitė, Dalia Lithuania 19
Grynspan, Rebeca Costa Rica 20
Halonen, Tarja Finland 21
Haq, Ameerah Bangladesh 22
Heyzer, Noeleen Singapore 23
Holguín, María Ángela Colombia 24
Jean, Michaëlle Canada 25
Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen Liberia 26
Kane, Angela Germany 27
Khidasheli, Tinatin Georgia 28
Lagarde, Christine France 29
Lucas, Sylvie Luxembourg 30
Machel, Graça Mozambique 31
Malcorra, Susana Argentina 32
Merkel, Angela Germany 33
Mogherini, Federica Italy 34
Murmokaitė, Raimonda Lithuania 35
Okonjo-Iweala, Ngozi Nigeria 36
Pillay, Navanethem (Navi) South Africa 37
Pusić, Vesna Croatia 38
Robinson, Mary Ireland 39
Solberg, Erna Norway 40
Thorning-Schmidt, Helle Denmark 41
Viotti, Maria Luiza Brazil 42
Wallström, Margot Sweden 43

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Louise Arbour is a Canadian lawyer and judge who served as UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights, a justice for the Supreme
Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario, and as the
Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the
former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
In 2007, Ms. Arbour was awarded the second highest honor of the
Canadian national order with the grade of a Companion of the
Order of Canada, a highly prestigious award.
In 2009, Louise Arbour was granted the title of Grand Officer of the
National Order of Quebec, a civilian honor for merit in the
Canadian province.
Louise Arbour first attended Collège Regina Assumpta, and later
earned her Bachelor of Laws with distinction from the Unversité de
Montréal. She then became a Law Clerk for Justice Pigeon of the
Supreme Court of Ottawa while completing her graduate studies at
the Faculty of Law (Civil Section) of the University of Ottawa.
Arbour’s early legal career was spent working first as a lecturer at
Osgoode Hall Law School and then as an Assistant Professor,
Associate Professor and finally as Associate Professor/Associate
Dean in 1987.
Following this academic tenure, she was appointed to the Supreme
Court of Ontario and then the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 1990.
In 1996, upon South African Supreme Court Justice Richard
Goldstone’s nomination, she replaced him as Chief Prosecutor of
the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The
Hague. Following her work on the international tribunals, she was
appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada by then-Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien.
Louise Arbour has been published in the area of criminal procedure
and criminal law, in both French and English, while at various
times serving as an editor for Criminal Reports, the Canadian
Rights Reporter, and the Osgoode Hall Law Journal.
When made a Companion to the Order of Canada in 2007, Louise
Arbour was cited by Canada’s Governor General “for her
contributions to the Canadian justice system and for her dedication
to the advancement of human rights throughout the world.”
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Louise Arbour
BIRTHDATE
10 February 1947
EDUCATION
Université de Montréal,
University of Ottawa,
Collège Regina
PLACE OF BIRTH
Montréal, Canada
RESIDENCE
Canada
LANGUAGES
English, French
Louise ArbourOutstanding
Women Leaders

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Catherine Ashton served as the inaugural European Union (EU)
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission (HR/VP) from
2009 to 2014.
In May 2012, Catherine Ashton was honored with the
BusinessMed Blue Award. The award was presented to her in
recognition of her efforts in promoting peace and economic
development in the Mediterranean region.
Prior to taking up her current position, Catherine Ashton was the
member of the Commission responsible for trade and represented
the EU in the Doha Round of world trade talks, and built on strong
bilateral trade and investment relationships.
Ms Ashton previously worked as a Labour politician, and in June
2007 she was appointed to the Cabinet of the British Labour
Government as Leader of the upper Parliamentary chamber, the
House of Lords.
In 2005 she was voted “Minister of the Year” by The House
Magazine and “Peer of the Year” by Channel 4. In 2006 she won
the “Politician of the Year” award at the annual Stonewall Awards.
In September 2004, Ms. Ashton was appointed Parliamentary
Under-Secretary in the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In
June 2001 she was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of
State in the Department of Education and Skills. In 2002 she was
made responsible for the "Sure Start" initiative in the same
department. In 1999 she was made a Labour life peer as a result of
her work towards building communities.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Catherine Ashton
BIRTHDATE
20 March 1956
EDUCATION
Bedford College
PLACE OF BIRTH
Upholland, United Kingdom
RESIDENCY
United Kingdom
LANGUAGES
English, French
Catherine AshtonOutstanding
Women Leaders

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Michelle Bachelet began serving her second term as President of
Chile in 2014; her first term was from 2006-2010.
Raised in both Chile and the United States, Ms. Bachelet began her
medical training at the University of Chile in 1970. Her medical
studies were interrupted with Chile's 1973 coup d’état, which led
to her father's imprisonment, torture and abuse-induced death.
Ms. Bachelet was exiled to Australia 1975. She returned to Chile
in 1979 and finished her medical studies in 1983, initiated pre-
junta. When her petition to become a general practitioner in the
public center was rejected by the Pinochet regime due to “political
reasons” she instead began her medical career in pediatrics and
public health sectors. Throughout the 1980s Ms. Bachelet worked
in various social services roles, particularly for the NGO
Protection of Children Injured by States of Emergency Foundation
(PIDEE), dedicated to providing professional help to children of
those detained and victimized by the Pinochet military regime in
the cities of Santiago and Chillán, Chile.
Following the return of democracy to Chile, in 1990 Ms. Bachelet
began working in the Western Metropolitan Area Health Service,
the National Aids Commission (Conasida), and became a
consultant for the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), as
well as Chile’s Ministry of Health.
Ms. Bachelet’s experience with both the Ministries of Defense and
Health, led to her appointment as Chile's Minister of Health in
2000. During her tenure there she helped lay the groundwork for
an overhaul of the Chilean health care system through a massive
participative process. In 2002, Ms. Bachelet was appointed
Minister of Defense, making her the first woman to hold the
position both in Chile and Latin America.
Ms. Bachelet assumed her first term as president in 2006. In 2010,
she accepted the role of President of the Social Protection Floor
Advisory Group, a joint initiative with the International Labour
Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). In
2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Ms. Bachelet the
first Director of the newly created program, UN Women. She
served as Director for two and a half years before returning return
to Chilean politics.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Verónica Michelle Bachelet
Jeria
BIRTHDATE
29 September 1951
EDUCATION
Humboldt University of
Berlin, University of Chile,
National Academy of
Strategy and Policy, The
Inter-American Defense
College
PLACE OF BIRTH
Chile
RESIDENCY
Chile
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English, French,
German, Portuguese
Michelle BacheletOutstanding
Women Leaders

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Alicia Bárcena Ibarra currently serves as Executive Secretary of the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
(ECLAC), having been appointed to the position on 1 July 2008.
Born in Mexico, Ms. Bárcena Ibarra graduated from the National
Autonomous University of Mexico with a Bachelor of Science
degree in Biology and from Harvard University with a Master’s
degree in Public Administration. She initiated Ph.D. studies in
Economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Bárcena Ibarra served in the government
of Mexico as the first Vice-Minister of Ecology and as Director-
General of the National Institute of Fisheries. Ms. Bárcena Ibarra
was Founding Director of the Earth Council in Costa Rica, a non-
governmental organization in charge of follow-up to the agreements
reached at the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED), held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
While serving at the Earth Council, she was Principal Officer in
charge of various topics related to Agenda 21.
She later served as Coordinator of the Latin American and
Caribbean Sustainable Development Programme of the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), responsible for the
Environmental Citizenship Project at the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP).
Before becoming the Executive Secretary of the Economic
Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Ms.
Bárcena Ibarra also served the organization as Deputy Executive
Secretary and Director of ECLACs Environment and Human
Settlements Division. During this earlier period with ECLAC,
contributed substantively and increased interagency collaboration to
provide a regional perspective on the Millennium Development
Goals and on Financing for Sustainable Development, connecting
issues of inequality, poverty, economic development and
sustainability with the required fiscal policies needed to address
extreme poverty.
She later served as Under-Secretary-General for Management at
United Nations Headquarters in New York, and as former
Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Chef de Cabinet and Deputy Chef
de Cabinet.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
BIRTHDATE
5 March 1952
EDUCATION
National Autonomous
University of Mexico,
Harvard University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Mexico
RESIDENCY
Mexico
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English
Alicia BárcenaOutstanding
Women Leaders

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Official UN Secretary-General Nominee
Nominated by the Government of Bulgaria, July 2015
Irina Bokova currently serves as the Director-General of the UN
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Born in Sofia, Bulgaria she graduated from Moscow State Institute
of International Relations, and studied at the University of
Maryland and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of
Government.
Ms. Bokova joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria in
1977 where she was responsible for human rights and equality of
women issues. She was later appointed in charge of political and
legal affairs at the Permanent Mission of Bulgaria to the United
Nations in New York. She was also a member of the Bulgarian
Delegation at the United Nations conferences on the equality of
women in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995).
As Member of Parliament (1990-1991 and 2001-2005), she
participated in the drafting of Bulgaria’s new Constitution, which
contributed significantly to the country’s accession to the
European Union. Ms. Bokova was appointed Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Coordinator of Bulgaria-European Union relations
from 1995 to 1997; Ambassador of Bulgaria to France, Monaco
and UNESCO from 2005 to 2009; and Personal Representative of
the President of Bulgaria to the Organisation Internationale de la
Francophonie (OIF).
Irina Bokova is an active member of many international experts’
networks. She is a President and founding member of the
European Policy Forum. For many years she has worked to
overcome European divisions and to foster the values of dialogue,
diversity, human dignity and human rights.
As Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova is actively engaged
in international efforts to advance quality education for all, gender
equality, cultural dialogue and scientific cooperation for sustainable
development and is leading UNESCO as a global advocate for
safety of journalists and freedom of expression.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Irina Bokova
BIRTHDATE
12 July 1952
EDUCATION
Moscow State Institute of
International Relations,
University of Maryland,
John F. Kennedy School of
Government, Harvard
University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Sofia, Bulgaria
RESIDENCY
Bulgaria
LANGUAGES
Bulgarian, English, French,
Spanish, Russian
Irina BokovaOutstanding
Women Leaders

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Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland is Deputy Chair of the Elders, an
independent group of global leaders who work together for peace
and human rights. She has participated in peace-building missions
for the Elders to Cyprus, the Korean Peninsula, the Middle East,
and Myanmar.
Dr. Brundtland is the youngest and first female Prime Minister of
Norway, serving three terms from 1981 to 1996.
At the age of seven, she became a member of the children’s
division of the Norwegian Labour Movement. She has a medical
degree and earned her Master’s degree in Public Health from
Harvard University in 1965, and spent ten years as a physician and
scientist in the Norwegian public health system.
Understanding the correlation between poor health and poor
environmental factors, Dr. Brundtland accepted the Minister of the
Environment position when it was offered to her in 1974, serving
until 1979. She was appointed a member of the Palme Commission
on Security and Disarmament in the 1980s.
In 1983, she was appointed chair of the UN World Commission on
Environment and Development (also known as the Brundtland
Commission), which led to the campaign for sustainable
development and the first Earth Summit. In 1987, she spearheaded
the Commission’s well-known report on sustainable development,
Our Common Future.
Dr. Brundtland served from 1998 to 2003 as Director General of the
World Health Organization (WHO); and from 2008 to 2010 as a
member of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-
Proliferation and Disarmament. From 2007 to 2010 she was
appointed UN Special Envoy on Climate Change.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Gro Harlem Brundtland
BIRTHDATE
20 April 1939
EDUCATION
Harvard University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Oslo, Norway
RESIDENCY
Oslo, Norway
LANGUAGES
Norwegian, English
Helen ClarkGro BrundtlandOutstanding
Women Leaders

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Helen Clark

Helen Clark is Administrator of the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) and is the first woman to lead the
organization. She also chairs the UN Development Group, a
committee consisting of the heads of all development-related UN
funds, programmes and departments.
After receiving a Master’s degree in Political Science from the
University of Auckland in 1974, Ms. Clark became a professor in
the field, and taught at Auckland from 1973 to 1981. She joined
the Labour Party in 1971, but was elected to Parliament from a
different constituency in 1981, thus beginning her rise past the
“glass ceiling.”
She held various positions such as: Chairman of the Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee from 1984 to 1987; and Minister,
responsible for the Conservation, Housing, Health and Labour
portfolios from 1987 to 1990.
Ms. Clark went on to become the first woman in New Zealand to
serve as Deputy Prime Minister from 1989 to 1990; first woman
appointed to the Privy Council in 1990; first woman to be elected
as head of a major party (the Labour Party) in 1993; and the first
woman elected Prime Minister of New Zealand, serving in this
role for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008. As Prime
Minister, she served as a member of the Council of Women World
Leaders, an international network of current and former women
presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the
highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on
issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.
Ms. Clark is the recipient of the Danish Peace Foundation’s Peace
Prize and was made a member of the Order of New Zealand (New
Zealand’s highest honor) in 2009. She has also been listed as one of
Forbes Magazine’s top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World
for ten years.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Helen Clark
BIRTHDATE
26 February 1950
EDUCATION
University of Auckland
PLACE OF BIRTH
Hamilton, New Zealand
RESIDENCY
New Zealand
LANGUAGES
English
Outstanding
Women Leaders

Christiana Figueres

Ertharin Cousin became the twelfth Executive Director of the
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on 5 April 2012.
She has more than twenty-five years of national, international non-
profit, government, and corporate leadership experience with a
focus on hunger, food, and resilience strategies.
Born in 1957 in Chicago, Illinois, Ambassador Cousin earned a
B.A. degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1979 and
a J.D. degree in 1982 from the University Of Georgia School of
Law. She started her career as Illinois Assistant Attorney General
and Western Regional Office Director for the Illinois Attorney
General’s office and as Deputy Director of the Chicago Ethics
Board. In the private sector, she was Director of Governmental
Affairs for AT&T.
Her governmental career began in earnest when in 1994 she joined
as the White House Liaison at the U.S. State Department. There
she received a Meritorious Service Award. She served as Senior
Advisor to the Secretary of State during the 1996 Olympic Games
in Atlanta.
In 1997, Ambassador Cousin received a White House appointment
for a four-year term to the Board for International Food and
Agricultural Development while at the same time leading
government communications and community affairs for two large
U.S. grocery chains, Albertsons Foods and Jewell Foods.
In 2002, she joined the board of America's Second Harvest, the
nation’s largest domestic hunger organization, and in 2004 became
its Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
Ambassador Cousin helped raise the annual revenue of the
organization from $20 million to $56 million during her time there.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Ertharin Cousin
BIRTHDATE
1957
EDUCATION
University of Illinois at
Chicago, University of
Georgia School of Law
PLACE OF BIRTH
Chicago, Illinois
RESIDENCE
Rome, Italy
LANGUAGES
English
Ertharin Cousin

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Christiana Figueres serves as Executive Secretary of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She was
originally appointed to this position in 2010 by UN Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon and was reappointed for a second, three-year
term in 2013.
Ms. Figueres was born into a political family; her father, José
Figueres Ferrer, served as president of Costa Rica on three
occasions, between 1948-1949; 1953-1958; and 1970-1974. Her
mother, Karen Olsen Beck, served as Costa Rican Ambassador to
Israel in 1982 and was a member of the national Legislative
Assembly from 1990 to 1994. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in
Anthropology from Swarthmore College; a Master’s degree in
Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics; and a
certificate in Organizational Development from Georgetown
University. She was awarded an honorary doctorate of law degree
from the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2014.
Ms. Figueres began her life as a public servant at the Embassy of
Costa Rica in Germany in 1982. Following this post, was appointed
Director of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Planning
from 1987 to 1988, and subsequently Chief of Staff to the Minister
of Agriculture from 1988 to 1990.
Following a move to the United States in the early 1990s, Ms.
Figueres accepted a position as Director of Renewable Energy in
the Americas (REIA) and in 1995 founded the non-profit, Center
for Sustainable Development of the Americas (CSDA). She
directed CSDA for eight years, helping to establish national climate
change programs in Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama.
A longstanding promoter of Latin America’s active participation in
global climate change policy, Ms. Figueres has contributed to the
analytical literature on the design of the climate regime. She has
served as a high level advisor to both governments and private
companies regarding climate change, and has published widely on
Latin America, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), climate
regime design, and capacity building.
In 2001, Ms. Figueres was awarded the Hero for the Planet Award
by National Geographic Magazine.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Karen Christiana
Figueres Olsen
BIRTHDATE
7 August 1956
EDUCATION
Swarthmore College,
London School of
Economics, Georgetown
University
PLACE OF BIRTH
San José, Costa Rica
RESIDENCE
United States
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English, German
Christiana Figueres

15

Louise Fréchette has enjoyed a long career as a Canadian diplomat
and public servant.
In 1998, she was appointed to the newly-created position of UN
Deputy Secretary-General by then UN Secretary-General, Kofi
Annan. She held this post from 1998 until 2006. Also in 1998, Ms.
Fréchette was awarded the second highest honor of the Canadian
national order with the grade of an Officer of the Order of Canada,
a highly prestigious honor.
Ms. Fréchette earned her undergraduate degree in history at the
Université de Montréal followed by a post-graduate Certificate of
Advanced European Studies from the College of Europe (Bruges).
She began her career in Canada’s Department of External Affairs,
with noteworthy appointments in Athens and Geneva. In 1985, she
became Canada’s ambassador to Argentina, and in 1992 Canada
appointed her as its ambassador to the UN.
In 1995, she left Canada’s foreign service to transition first to
assistant deputy minister of finance in Ottawa, with a subsequent
promotion to deputy minister of national defense as the first
woman to hold the position.
Ms. Fréchette is currently serving a three-year term at the Centre
for International Governance Innovation, an international relations
and policy think tank in Waterloo, Ontario. She is committed to a
research project on nuclear energy and the world’s security in this
capacity.
Additionally, Ms. Fréchette is Chairman of the Board of Directors
of CARE Canada and a member of the Board of Directors of CARE
International. Ms. Fréchette is also a Member of the Global
Leadership Foundation and is a member of the International
Advisory Board at the Institute for the Study of International
Development (ISID) at McGill University.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Louise Fréchette
BIRTHDATE
16 July 1946
EDUCATION
Université de Montréal,
College of Europe (Bruges)
PLACE OF BIRTH
Montreal, Canada
RESIDENCE
Waterloo, Canada
LANGUAGES
English, French
Louise Fréchette

16

Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva has held the position of European
Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid
and Crisis Response since her appointment in February 2010.
She earned an MA in Political Economy and Sociology from the
University of National and World Economy in Sofia, Bulgaria. She
completed post-graduate research and studies in natural resource
economics and environmental policy at the London School of
Economics and also studied at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
Known as a lecturer on economies in transition, Ms. Georgieva
began her career in the early 1990s as an economic consultant and
academic lecturer before joining the international economic and
finance sector in 1993.
She served as Senior Environmental Economist in the
Environment Division for Europe and Central Asia under the
World Bank Group and continued to advance at the World Bank,
becoming Vice President and Corporate Secretary for the Group.
Ms. Georgieva has additionally served on the World Bank’s Board
of Trustees.
Ms. Georgieva was named both “European of the Year” and “EU
Commissioner of the Year” in 2010 in acknowledgement of her
outstanding work following the Haiti earthquake and the floods in
Pakistan.
When elected to her current post, the European Commission
President José Manual Barroso praised Georgieva when
announcing his endorsement, stating that “Mrs. Georgieva has
solid international experience and knowledge which is going to
contribute significantly to her capacity as EU Commissioner.”
While serving as EU Commissioner in response to Haiti’s
devastating 2010 earthquake, she made sure that the EU became the
primary humanitarian donor to the struggling nation.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Kristalina Ivanova
Georgieva
BIRTHDATE
13 August, 1953
EDUCATION
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, London
School of Economics,
Harvard Business School
PLACE OF BIRTH
Sofia, Bulgaria
RESIDENCY
Washington D.C. and
Brussels
LANGUAGES
Bulgarian, English,
Russian
Kristalina GeorgievaOutstanding
Women Leaders

17

Natalia Gherman serves as both Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration in the
Republic of Moldova. Ms. Gherman temporarily held the office of
Prime Minister of Moldova from June to July 2015 following the
resignation of former Prime Minister, Chiril Gaburici.
Ms. Gherman earned her Bachelor’s degree from the State
University of the Republic of Moldova and her Master’s degree in
War Studies from King’s College London. She began her public
service career as Second Secretary for the Department of
International Organisations (1991-1992) and First Secretary for the
Department of European Organizations (1992-1994). For the next
three years, Ms. Gherman served as Counselor for the Deputy
Head of the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Moldova to
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
and other international organizations in Vienna. She was appointed
in 1997 as Deputy Head of the Department of European Security
and Political-Military Affairs in Moldova’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, a position she held for four years.
During the 2000s, Ms. Gherman served in a number of important
international diplomatic positions, including Minister-Counselor of
the Embassy of the Republic of Moldova in Belgium and Deputy
Head of the Mission of Moldova to NATO (2001-2002);
Ambassador to the Republic of Austria and Permanent
Representative to the OSCE and other International Organizations
in Vienna (2002-2006); and Ambassador to the Kingdom of
Sweden, the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Finland
(2006-2009).
Between 2009 and 2013, Ms. Gherman was appointed Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration. She served
briefly as Deputy Prime Minister in 2013, and as Deputy of the
Moldovan Parliament in 2014 before returning in early 2015 to her
dual role as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
and European Integration.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Natalia Snegur Gherman
BIRTHDATE
20 March 1969
EDUCATION
State University of the
Republic of Moldova,
King’s College London
PLACE OF BIRTH
Chișnău, Moldova
RESIDENCY
Moldova
LANGUAGES
English, German, Russian
Natalia GhermanOutstanding
Women Leaders

18

Kolinda Grarbar-Kitarović has served as President of Croatia since
February 2015.
She began her career in 1992 as an advisor to the International
Cooperation Department of Croatia’s Ministry of Science and
Technology, later becoming an advisor in the Foreign Ministry.
In 1995, she became the Director of the Foreign Ministry’s North
American Department, and she worked as a diplomatic counselor
and DCM at the Croatian Embassy in Canada from 1997 to 2000;
returning later to the Foreign Ministry as Minister- Counsellor.
Elected to the Croatian Parliament in 2003, Ms. Grarbar-Kitarović
was quickly promoted to Minister of European Integration in
December of the same year.
She then served as Crotia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and
European Integration from 2005-2008. In 2008, she was named
Ambassador of Croatia to the United States, which she held until
2011.
From 2011 to 2014, Ms. Grarbar-Kitarović served from as
NATO’s first woman Assistant Secretary General for Public
Diplomacy.
Ms. Grarbar-Kitarović holds a Master’s degree in international
relations from the Faculty of Political Science, University of
Zagreb. She was also a Fulbright Scholar at the George Washington
University, a Luksic Fellow at Harvard University’s John F.
Kennedy School of Government and a visiting scholar at the Paul
H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of The
Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Kolinda Grarbar-Kitarović
BIRTHDATE
29 April 1968
EDUCATION
University of Zagreb,
Diplomatic Academy of
Vienna, George
Washington University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Rijeka, Croatia
RESIDENCY
Croatia
LANGUAGES
Croatian, English, Spanish,
Portuguese, German,
French, Italian
Kolinda Grarbar-Kitarović
Outstanding
Women Leaders

19

Dalia Grybauskaitė
Dalia Grybauskaitė is the first female President of Lithuania,
inaugurated on 2009 and re-elected in 2014.
She served previously as Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Minister of Finance, as well as European Commissioner for
Financial Programming and the Budget from 2004 to 2009.
In 2004 President Grybauskaitė was tapped to serve in Brussels as
the European commissioner responsible for financial programming
and budget. She was later selected the 2005 EU Commissioner of
the Year. From 2001 to 2004 she also served as Finance Minister.
In 2000 Ms. Grybauskaitė was appointed Deputy Foreign Affairs
Minister and took a leadership role within the delegation
responsible for negotiating Lithuania’s accession to the European
Union (EU).
After serving from 1996 to 1999 as the plenipotentiary minister at
the Lithuanian embassy in the United States, she returned to
Vilnius to assume the office of Deputy Finance Minister and
became Lithuania’s chief negotiator with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
In 1991, she held posts in the Ministry of International Economic
Relations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1983 to 1990
she was a lecturer at the Communist Party’s training college in
Vilnius.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Dalia Grybauskaitė
BIRTHDATE
1 March 1956
EDUCATION
Zdanov University (now
Saint Petersburg State
University), Moscow
Academy of Public
Sciences
PLACE OF BIRTH
Vilnyus, USSR (present-
day Vilnius, Lithuania)
RESIDENCY
Lithuania
LANGUAGES
Lithuanian, English,
Russian, French, Polish
Outstanding
Women Leaders

20

Rebeca Grynspan, economist and former Vice President of Costa
Rica, was elected unanimously in 2014 as the first woman to head
the Ibero-American Secretariat (SEGIB). SEGIB works with Heads
of State and Government from Latin America, Andorra, Portugal,
Spain, and other national and nongovernmental authorities to
promote sustainable economic, social, and cultural development.
Ms. Grynspan served previously in a number of roles with the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 2006 to
2010, including as Associate Administrator and Assistant
Secretary-General and Regional Director of UNDP’s Bureau for
Latin America and the Caribbean. She was also President of the
Gender Steering and Implementation Committee (GSIC); member
of the UN Millennium Project’s Task Force on Poverty and
Economic Development; gender spokesperson for the UNDP
Executive Board; UN Representative on the Temporary
Committee for the Reconstruction of Haiti; and member of the UN
High-Level Panel on Financing for Development.
From 2001 to 2006, Ms. Grynspan was Director of the Subregional
Headquarters in Mexico of the Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). During her tenure with
ECLAC she served as Co-Chair of the International Food Policy
Research Institute’s Executive Board. Through that position she
served on the advisory group for the Inter-American Development
Bank’s Programme for the Support of Women’s Leadership and
Representation (PROLEAD), the first fund created by a multilateral
financial institution specifically aimed at advancing women’s
political empowerment in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
From 1996 to 1998, she held concurrently the offices of Vice
President and Minister of Housing. Ms. Grynspan also served as
Costa Rica’s Coordinating Minister of Social Affairs and Vice-
Minister of Finance. During her tenure as Vice President, she
oversaw the establishment of the Task Force on Poverty, developing
programming aimed at empowering female heads of households.
Ms. Grynspan earned her Bachelor’s Degree in economics from the
University of Costa Rica and her Master’s Degree in economics
from the University of Sussex, U.K. She also served as a professor
and researcher at the Economic Science Research Institute at the
University of Costa Rica.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Rebeca Grynspan
BIRTHDATE
14 December 1955
EDUCATION
University of Costa Rica,
University of Sussex
PLACE OF BIRTH
San José, Costa Rica
RESIDENCY
United States
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English
Rebeca GrynspanOutstanding
Women Leaders

21

Tarja Halonen’s dedication to improving human rights has been
the backbone of her political career. Born and raised in post-war
Helsinki, she attended the University of Helsinki from 1963 to
1968, where she studied law and became active in student
government.
In 1971 Ms. Halonen began working as a lawyer at the Central
Organization of Finnish Trade, developing a strong background in
union and labor politics.
She became a member of the Social Democratic Party after
university and in 1979 ran a successful campaign and was elected
to Finland’s parliament.
Ms. Halonen went on to hold her position in parliament for six
terms. During her time in office she advocated for LGBT rights,
women’s rights, and to lessen globalization’s impact on labor
rights.
In 1999 former Finnish President Martiti Ahtisaari decided not to
run for a second term and Ms. Halonen sought the Social
Democratic Party’s nomination to run for his seat. She won the
2000 election and became Finland’s 11th president and the first
woman to hold the position.
Ms. Halonen enjoyed large margins of public approval during her
first term and was reelected to the presidency in 2006.
After finishing a successful second term in 2012 she went on to join
the Council of Women World Leaders and remains an active voice
for human rights in Finland and on the international stage to this
day.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Tarja Halonen
BIRTHDATE
24 December 1943
EDUCATION
University of Helsinki
PLACE OF BIRTH
Helsinki, Finland
RESIDENCY
Finland
LANGUAGES
Finnish, English, Swedish,
Estonian
Tarja HalonenOutstanding
Women Leaders

22

Ameerah Haq completed a distinguished, 38-year career with the
United Nations in 2014, most recently serving in the position of
Under-Secretary-General for Field Support in the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).
Born in then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, Ms. Haq credits her
lifelong curiosity about the world to the convent boarding school
education she received in her youth. After her parents were
encouraged to give their daughters the opportunity for an education
different than that typically found in Dhaka society at the time, Ms.
Haq recalls that, “I think it opened up a lot for me.” Ms. Haq earned
a scholarship to study at Western College for Women in Oxford,
OH. She then went on to earn separate Master’s degrees, each at
Columbia University and New York University.
During her graduate work, Ms. Haq interviewed with the UN and
was hired in 1976 as a Junior Professional Officer with the UN
Development Programme (UNDP). She served in field assignments
in Indonesia and Afghanistan, followed by postings to UNDP’s
Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific until 1990. As the focal
point for aid coordination mechanisms, she worked as Desk Officer
for Thailand, Myanmar, and Bhutan, alongside a parallel posting
with the United Nations Development Fund for Women from 1985
to 1987.
Ms. Haq was appointed UNDP Resident Representative to Laos
from 1991 to 1994, and subsequently UNDP Resident
Representative to Malaysia. While stationed in Malaysia, she was
named to the position of UN Resident Coordinator of Malaysia, a
position she held until 1997. She was then appointed Deputy
Special Representative of the Secretary-General and UN Resident
Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, and
also held positions of Deputy Special Representative of the
Secretary-General as well as UN Resident Coordinator and
Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan. From 2009 to 2014, Ms. Haq
served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for
Timor-Leste and Head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in
Timor-Leste (UNMIT).
Since her departure from the UN, Ms. Haq serves as Vice Chair of
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s High-Level Independent Panel
on UN Peace Operations for the Geneva-based Centre for
Humanitarian Dialogue.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Ameerah Haq
BIRTHDATE
unknown
EDUCATION
Western College, Columbia
University, New York
University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Dhaka, Bangladesh
RESIDENCY
Geneva, Switzerland
LANGUAGES
English, Bengali
Ameerah HaqOutstanding
Women Leaders

23

Dr. Noeleen Heyzer is the first woman since 1947 to serve as an
Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
Currently the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser
for Timor-Leste, she is an expert on sustainable development
issues.
Dr. Heyzer served previously as the first Executive Director from
the South to head the United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM). Under her leadership, UNIFEM assisted over
one hundred countries in the formulation and implementation of
legislation and policies that promote women’s security and rights.
This resulted in the removal of discriminatory practices, changes
in inheritance laws for women, better working conditions for
migrant workers, women’s full participation in several peace
negotiations and electoral processes including in Liberia, Rwanda
and Timor-Leste, and the inclusion of women as full citizens in the
constitution of Afghanistan.
Dr. Heyzer played a critical role in helping the Security Council
pass Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security,
undertaking extensive missions to conflict-affected countries
worldwide. She was responsible for the establishment of the
United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women.
She has served in various boards and advisory committees
including being Member of Board of Trustees of Asian Institute of
Technology, and the UNDP’s Human Development Report. She is
also strengthening the United Nations Special Programme for
Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) in collaboration with the
Economic Commission for Europe (ECE).
Dr. Heyzer holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science
degree from the University of Singapore. She earned a Doctorate
in social sciences from Cambridge University.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Noeleen Heyzer
BIRTHDATE
1948
EDUCATION
University of Singapore,
Cambridge University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Singapore
RESIDENCY
Singapore
LANGUAGES
English, Malay, Mandarin,
Tamil
Noeleen HeyzerOutstanding
Women Leaders

24

María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar was appointed to be Colombia’s
Minister of Foreign Affairs by President Juan Manuel Santos in
2010.
With over two decades of diplomatic service and experience in
the public and private sectors, she has distinguished herself as a
leader both at home in Colombia and abroad.
As a university student Ms. Holguín studied public policy and
political science at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia and
the Centre d´Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques in Paris,
France.
Her career in diplomacy began in 1992 when she served as the
Commercial Attaché of the Embassy of Colombia in France.
From 1995 to 1997, Ms. Holguín worked as the Technical
Secretary of the Ministerial Meeting on Cultural Affairs and of
the XI Summit of Chiefs of State and Government of the Non-
Aligned Movement.
In 1992, she joined the Worldview International Foundation as
their Regional Director for Latin America, a position she held
until 2002. Later that same year Ms. Holguín was appointed the
Ambassador of Colombia to Venezuela.
And as a highlight of an already accomplished diplomatic career,
from 2004 to 2005 Ms. Holguín served as Colombia’s 25th
Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
In 2006, she returned to Colombia to serve as the Head of the
Cabinet of the Vice-President of the Republic. Ms. Holguín held
this post for two years and then returned briefly to the private
sector as the Andean Development Corporation (CAF)’s
representative in Argentina.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar
BIRTHDATE
13 November 1963
EDUCATION
Universidad de los Andes,
Centre d´Études
Diplomatiques et Stratégiques
PLACE OF BIRTH
Bogotá, Colombia
RESIDENCE
Colombia
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English

María Ángela HolguínOutstanding
Women Leaders

25

Michaëlle Jean’s career as a journalist, activist, and diplomat
reflects her lifelong commitment to public service. Originally born
in Haiti, Ms. Jean immigrated to Canada with her family in 1968.
She developed a love of language early on in life and pursued
undergraduate and then graduate degrees in linguistics and
literature at the University of Montreal, the University of Perouse,
the University of Florence, and at the Catholic University of
Milan. Ms. Jean is fluent in five languages: French, English,
Italian, Spanish and Creole and taught Italian for several years at
the University of Montreal. During her time in academia she also
learned about and developed a passion for working to end
domestic violence.
From 1979 to 1987 she worked with a series of shelters for
survivors of domestic violence in Quebec and also became
involved with aid organizations for immigrant women and
families. Later in her career she worked at Employment and
Immigration Canada and at the Conseil des Communautés
culturelles du Québec. In 1988 she transitioned from academia to
journalism, joining Radio-Canada first as a reporter and then as a
host. She went on to have an 18-year career in journalism, serving
as an anchor on evening and daytime news and politic programs
and in 2004 establishing her own program, Michaëlle, which
featured in-depth news analysis and interviews.
In 2005, Queen Elizabeth II appointed her governor general of
Canada. Ms. Jean was the first person of Caribbean origin to hold
the post and the third woman to serve as governor general. She
held the position until 2010, carrying out many of the ceremonial
and constitutional duties of the Canadian monarchy in the Queen’s
service.
After leaving the position of governor general Ms. Jean continued
to expand her experience in public service and diplomacy,
becoming the Special Envoy for Haiti for UNESCO and in 2012
was appointed to the Queen’s Privey Council for Canada. And in
2015 She became the third Secretary-General of the Organisation
Internationale de la Francophonie, the first woman to take on the
role.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Michaëlle Jean
BIRTHDATE
6 September 1957
EDUCATION
University of Montreal,
University of Perouse,
University of Florence,
Catholic University of Milan
PLACE OF BIRTH
Port au Prince, Haiti
RESIDENCY
Canada
LANGUAGES
English, French, Spanish,
Italian, Haitian Creole
Michaëlle JeanOutstanding
Women Leaders

26

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the first woman leader of Liberia and
Africa’s first female head of state.
Born in Liberia in 1938, she pursued a bachelor’s degree in
accounting at Madison Business College in Madison, Wisconsin, a
Master’s degree in economics at the University of Colorado at
Boulder, and a Master’s of public administration at Harvard
University.
Upon completing her education Ms. Johnson Sirleaf returned home
to Liberia to serve as the Minister of Finance from 1979 to 1980
under then President William Tolbert. A violent military coup
swept the country in 1980, led by army sergeant Samuel Doe, and
resulted in the assassination of President Tolbert. Johnson Sirleaf
was exiled from Liberia by the new military government. She
worked for several years in international banking in the United
States and Kenya.
In 1985, Ms. Johnson Sirleaf returned to Liberia to run for the
Senate but when she spoke out against Doe’s regime she was
sentenced to 10 years in prison. She was imprisoned for part of her
sentence but was eventually able to return to the United States,
building a career as an economist at Citibank and the World Bank.
During her second exile, Charles Taylor led a bloody revolt against
Doe, overthrowing him in 1990 and becoming the new president.
Ms. Johnson Sirleaf returned to Liberia for the third time in 1997
to run against George Weah in the presidential election. She lost
the election and Taylor accused her of treason. Undeterred by
Taylor’s threats, she continued to advocate for the end of rampant
corruption in Liberia and economic reform, eventually becoming
the head of the Unity Party.
In 2005 Ms. Johnson Sirleaf successfully defeated Weah in the
presidential election, becoming the first woman leader of Liberia
and Africa’s first female head of state. Her first term in office was
marked by progressive reform to the country’s fiscal and economic
policies.
In 2011 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Leymah
Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karmanof Yemen for “for their
non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's
rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Ms. Johnson
Sirleaf was reelected for a second presidential term in 2011.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
BIRTHDATE
29 October 1938
EDUCATION
Madison Business College,
University of Colorado,
Harvard University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Liberia
RESIDENCY
Liberia
LANGUAGES
Liberian, English

Ellen Johnson-SirleafOutstanding
Women Leaders

27

Angela Kane assumed the position of High Representative for
Disarmament Affairs in March 2012. She provides the Secretary-
General with advice and support on all arms control, non-
proliferation and related security matters and is responsible for the
activities of the Office for Disarmament Affairs. She was the lead
negotiator in 2014 in persuading Syria to allow for investigations
on allegations of use of chemical weapons and eventually leading
to the Syria decision to give up its chemical weapons by joining
the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Ms. Kane has had a long and distinguished career in the United
Nations. In addition to substantive assignments in political affairs,
peacekeeping and disarmament, she has held various managerial
functions, including with financial and policy-setting
responsibility.
She served as Under-Secretary-General for Management from
2008-2012, overseeing human resources, financial management,
procurement and support services and the renovation of the United
Nations New York Headquarters campus.
From 2005 to 2008, Ms. Kane served as Assistant Secretary-
General for Political Affairs, a core function related to the
prevention and resolution of conflicts. Previously, she had served
as the Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly and
Conference Management.
Her field experience includes Deputy Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and
Eritrea (UNMEE), peacemaking in El Salvador, a special
assignment to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and postings
in Indonesia and Thailand.
Ms. Kane also held the positions of Director in the Department of
Political Affairs and Director in the Department of Public
Information. She served as Principal Political Officer with former
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and worked with the
Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central
American Peace Process. Ms. Kane worked on disarmament issues
for several years and was responsible for the activities of the
World Disarmament Campaign.
Before joining the UN Secretariat 38 years ago, Ms. Kane worked
for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. and for the private sector
in Europe.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Angela Kane
BIRTHDATE
29 September 1948
EDUCATION:
University of München,
Bryn Mawr College and
the Johns Hopkins School
of Advanced International
Studies
PLACE OF BIRTH
Hamelin, Lower Saxony,
Germany
RESIDENCY
Germany
LANGUAGES
German, English, French,
Spanish, Dutch
Angela KaneOutstanding
Women Leaders

28

Tinatin Khidasheli is the first woman to be appointed as Georgia’s
Minister of Defense assuming this position in May 2015.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in international law from Tbilisi
State University and went on to earn a Master’s degree in political
science from the Central European University in Budapest in 1996.
Subsequently, Ms. Khidasheli was a human rights fellow at
Washington College of Law and a world fellow at Yale University.
Following these fellowships, Ms. Khidasheli worked in a number
of governmental and international organizations in her home
country before assuming the presidency of the influential human
rights group the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA)
from 2000 to 2004. During this time, Ms. Khidasheli also served
as a member of the State Anti-Corruption Council from 2002 to
2004. The purpose of the State Anti-Corruption Council was to
call into public question misdeeds of then-President Eduard
Shevardnadze.
Ms. Khidasheli’s contributions to Council and activism helped
bring about President Shevardnadze’s resignation in the country’s
Rose Revolution of 2003. Following the Revolution, she served as
Chairman of the Board of the Open Society Georgia Foundation
from 2004 to 2006.
Ms. Khidasheli became a member of the Georgian Parliament for
the Republican Party in 2012. While working within Parliament,
Ms. Khidasheli served as Chairman of the Parliamentary
Committee on European Integration before her recent appointment
as Minister of Defense.
When announcing Tinatin Khidasheli’s appointment, Georgian
acting Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili expressed confidence in
the new Defense Minister by adding that, “I am absolutely certain
that she will succeed in leading Georgia’s relationship with
Western institutions to the next level.”
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Tinatin Khidasheli
BIRTHDATE
8 June 1973
EDUCATION
Tbilisi State University,
Central European
University (Budapest)
PLACE OF BIRTH
Tbilisi, Georgia
RESIDENCE
Georgia
LANGUAGES
English, Georgian, Russian

Tinatin KhidasheliOutstanding
Women Leaders

29

Christine Lagarde currently serves as the Managing Director of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the most recent in a series of
groundbreaking positions she has held throughout her
distinguished career.
Born in Paris, Ms. Lagarde pursued her Law and Master’s degrees
in France and after graduation quickly became a successful
antitrust and labor lawyer at the international firm of Baker &
McKenzie. She was appointed as the firm’s first female Chairman
of Global Strategic Committee in 2004.
In 2005, Ms. Lagarde began her career in public service as
France’s Minister for Foreign Trade. Then in 2007, she became the
Minister for Finance and Economy under President Jacques
Chirac, making her the first woman to lead a G-8 economy.
She took over the position just as the 2008 financial crisis began to
spread across the globe. Ms. Lagarde’s tenure as minister was
marked by critical reform, such as the regulation of hedge funds
and an international tax on financial transactions, as well as
practical, progressive initiatives such as merging France’s job-
placement and unemployment-benefit agencies and strengthening
anti-trust regulations.
She also built a diplomatic reputation in the international
community through her work leading the Economic and Financial
Affairs Council (ECOFIN) in 2008 and serving as Chairman of the
G-20 in 2011.
In July 2011 she was appointed the eleventh Managing Director of
the IMF, the first woman to ever hold the directorship. Her five-
year term is already being heralded as historic as Ms. Lagarde has
guided the IMF’s management of the euro-zone debt crisis and
pushed for a reform of the international monetary system to protect
against future crises.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Christine Madeleine Odette
Lagarde
BIRTHDATE
1 January 1956
EDUCATION
Institut d'Etudes Politiques
d'Aix-en-Provence
PLACE OF BIRTH
Paris, France
RESIDENCE
France
LANGUAGES
French, English

Christine LagardeOutstanding
Women Leaders

30

Sylvie Lucas is Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the
United Nations and Chair of the Guinea Country Configuration of
the UN Peacebuilding Commission. From 2009 to 2010, she
served as sixty-fifth President of the Economic and Social Council.
Prior to her appointment at the United Nations, Ms. Lucas served
as the Director for Political Affairs in Luxembourg’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
Her career in government began in 1990, when she joined the
Foreign Ministry Directorate for Political and Cultural Affairs. She
then served in the Directorate for International and Economic
Relations from 1991 to 1995.
Ms. Lucas’ other posts include serving from 1995 to 2000 as
Luxembourg’s Deputy permanent Representative to the United
Nations and from 2000 to 2002 as the Foreign Ministry’s Deputy
Director for Political Affairs. Ms. Lucas was Luxembourg’s
ambassador to Portugal and Cape Verde simultaneously 2003 to
2004.
Ms. Lucas received a Master of Arts degree in History from the
University of Human Sciences (now the University of Strasbourg)
in 1988 and a Master of Arts in European Political and
Administrative Studies in 1989 from the College of Europe in
Bruges, Belgium.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Sylvie Lucas
BIRTHDATE:
30 June 1965
EDUCATION
University of Human
Sciences in Strasbourg,
College of Europe in
Bruges, Belgium
PLACE OF BIRTH
Luxembourg
RESIDENCE
Luxembourg
LANGUAGES
Luxemburgish, French,
German, English,
Portuguese

Sylvie LucasOutstanding
Women Leaders

31

Graça Machel is the only woman in history to have served as first
lady of two separate republics: Mozambique from 1975 to 1986;
and South Africa from 1998 to 1999.
Ms. Machel is a founding Convenor of the Elders, an independent
group of global leaders who work together for peace and human
rights, and President of the School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London.
She is also Chairperson of the Eminent Advisory Board of the
Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA);
Board Chair of The Partnership for Maternal Newborn & Child
Health (PMNCH); and a member of the Africa Progress Panel
(APP), whose members advocate regionally and internationally at
the highest levels for sustainable and equitable development in
Africa.
Following Mozambique's independence in 1975, Ms. Machel was
appointed Minister for Education and Culture, a position she held
from 1975 to 1989. She also served as Chairperson of the National
Organization of Children of Mozambique.
Ms. Machel was a delegate to the 1998 UNICEF conference in
Zimbabwe and participated on the international steering committee
of the 1990 World Conference on Education for All. She was
appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to chair
the Study on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children, which
later became known as the Machel Report. In 1994, she founded
the Foundation for Community Development (FDC), which
promotes development by increasing community access to
information and technology.
Ms. Machel received the 1995 Nansen Medal from the United
Nations in recognition of her longstanding humanitarian work,
particularly on behalf of refugee children.
In 1997, she was made a British dame and was the recipient of
InterAction’s humanitarian award. In 1998, she was one of the two
winners of the North-South Prize.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Graça Machel
BIRTHDATE
17 October 1945
EDUCATION
University of Lisbon
PLACE OF BIRTH
Portuguese East Africa
(modern-day Mozambique)
RESIDENCY
Mozambique
LANGUAGES
Shangaan, English,
French, German, Italian,
Portuguese, Spanish

Graça MachelOutstanding
Women Leaders

32

Susana Malcorra is Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina.
She served previously as Chef de Cabinet for UN Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon, a position she held from 2012 to 2015. In
this capacity, she was also a member of the UN’s Senior
Management Group (SMG), chaired by the UN Secretary-General,
which serves as a forum for planning and information sharing, as
well as policy related matters, in response to emerging challenges
and cross-cutting issues.
Ms. Malcorra also served from 2008 to 2012 as Under-Secretary-
General for Field Support, which provides dedicated support to all
UN peacekeeping field missions and political field missions. In her
role as USG, she served as the leading staff member at UN
headquarters for more than 120,000 military, civilian, and police
personnel deployed around the world.
Between 2004 and 2008, Ms. Malcorra served as Chief Operating
Officer and Deputy Executive Director of the World Food
Programme (WFP). Throughout her tenure she oversaw daily
emergency and humanitarian operations in more than 80 countries,
including leading the initial phase of the operational response to
the Indian Ocean Tsunami in December 2004.
Prior to entering the international civil service, Ms. Malcorra
worked for twenty-five years in the private sector, advancing to
leadership positions both at IBM and Telecom Argentina, where
she served as that organization’s first female Chief Executive
Officer.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Susana Malcorra
BIRTHDATE:
1954
EDUCATION
University of Rosario,
Argentina
PLACE OF BIRTH
Rosario, Argentina
RESIDENCY
Argentina and New York
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English

Susana MalcorraOutstanding
Women Leaders

33

Angela Merkel is Germany’s first woman Chancellor and longest-
serving incumbent head of government in the European Union.
Born in 1954 in East Germany, she studied physics at the
University of Leipzig and earned a doctorate in quantum chemistry
at East German Academy of Sciences in Berlin in 1978. From
1978 to 1990 Dr. Merkel worked as a chemist at the Central
Institute for Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences.
Following the German reunification in 1990, Dr. Merkel was
elected to the Bundestag for Stralsund-Nordvorpommern-Rügen in
the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a seat she has held ever
since. That same year she joined the Christian Democratic Union
(CDU) political party and soon after was appointed to Helmut
Kohl's cabinet as Federal Minister for Women and Youth.
In 1994 Dr. Merkel became the Federal Minister for the
Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, serving
until 1998. Following Kohl's defeat in the 1998 general election,
she was named Secretary-General of the CDU. Dr. Merkel was
chosen party leader in 2000 and lost the CDU candidacy for
Chancellor in 2002 to Edmund Stoiber.
In the 2005 election she narrowly defeated Chancellor Gerhard
Schröder, winning by just three seats, and after the CDU agreed a
coalition deal with the Social Democrats (SPD), Dr. Merkel was
declared Germany's first female Chancellor.
In 2007, Dr. Merkel became President of the European Council
and chaired the G8. She was the second woman to do so. That
same year, she signed the agreement for the Transatlantic
Economic Council in an effort to strengthen transatlantic economic
relations. She has been described as the de facto leader of the
European Union, and was ranked as the world's second most
powerful person by Forbes Magazine in 2013, the highest ranking
ever achieved by a woman; Dr. Merkel is now ranked fifth.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Angela Merkel
BIRTHDATE
17 July 1954
EDUCATION
University of Leipzig, East
German Academy of
Sciences in Berlin
PLACE OF BIRTH
Hamburg, Germany
RESIDENCE
Germany
LANGUAGES
German, English, French,
Russian

Angela MerkelOutstanding
Women Leaders

34

Federica Mogherini is currently the High Representative for the
European Union on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Since
November 2014, she also serves as Vice President of the European
Commission in the Juncker Commission.
Born in Rome in 1973, Ms. Mogherini studied Political Science at
the University of Rome “La Sapienza.” She became an active
member of the Democrats of the Left (DP), a social democratic
party in Italy. Ms. Mogherini is a longstanding member of the DP
leadership, first as Secretary for Institutional Reforms; member of
the National Council; and serving from 2013 to 2014 as Secretary
for European and International Affairs.
In 2008 she became one of the youngest members of parliament in
Italian history, and has wide experience in a number of
appointments. From 2008 to 2013, she was Secretary of the
Defense Committee and member of the Foreign Affairs
Committee. Following completion of these assignments, she went
on to serve, between 2013-2014, as Head of the Italian Delegation
to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and Vice-President of its
Political Committee; member of the Italian Delegation to the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Ms. Mogherini is a member of the European Leadership Network
for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
(ELN) and of the Group of Eminent Persons (GEM) of the
Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty Organization (CTBTO).
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Federica Mogherini
BIRTHDATE
16 June 1973
EDUCATION
La Sapienza University of
Rome
PLACE OF BIRTH
Rome, Italy
RESDENCY
Rome, Italy
LANGUAGES
Italian, English, French,
Spanish

Federica MogheriniOutstanding
Women Leaders

35

Raimonda Murmokaitė serves as Permanent Representative of the
Republic of Lithuania to the United Nations. She is also Chair of
the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee through
end 2015.
Ms. Murmokaitė earned her Bachelor’s degree in Romanic-
Germanic Philology from Vilnius University in 1982. She went on
to become an Edmund S. Muskie Scholar in Public Administration
at the Monterey Institute of International Studies from 1992 to
1993 and a Chevening Scholar in Diplomacy and Security Studies
at Birmingham University in 1994. That same year she joined
Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a Desk Officer.
During her 20-year career serving in Lithuania’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Ms. Murmokaitė was appointed Head of the
Western European Division and the Policy Planning Division
(1996 to 1998); Director of the Department of the Americas,
Africa, Asia and Oceania (2003 to 2004); and Ambassador-at-large
in the Minister’s Office (2008 to 2009).
Ms. Murmokaitė has also held the posts of Counselor at the
Embassy of Lithuania to Italy (1998 to 2001) and Deputy
Permanent Representative in her country’s Permanent Mission to
the United Nations from 2004 to 2008. From 2009 to 2012, she
served as Director of the United Nations, International
Organizations and Human Rights Department within the
Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was named
Lithuania’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in
October 2012.
An accomplished Lithuanian diplomat, Ms. Murmokaitė was
decorated as an Officier de l’ordre national du Mérite by France in
1997 and is a 2003 recipient of Lithuania’s Commander Cross of
the Order of Merit.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Raimonda Murmokaitė
BIRTHDATE
17 July 1959
EDUCATION
Vilnius University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Lithuania
RESDENCY
New York, NY
LANGUAGES
Lithuanian, English,
French, Italian, Russian

Raimonda MurmokaitėOutstanding
Women Leaders

36

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a globally recognized economist
currently serving in her second term as Minister of Finance for the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. She also serves as a member of the
Governing Council of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority,
and is also the first woman to hold the positions of Finance
Minister and Foreign Minister.
She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the International School
Ibadan and Harvard University in 1977 and her Ph.D. in regional
economic development from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) in 1981.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala began her career with the World Bank in 1982,
joining its Young Professionals Program, and worked through the
ranks to finally reach the position of Managing Director in 2007, a
position she held until 2011. From 2003 to 2006, she was
appointed as Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and in 2005,
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala led the national negotiating team working with
the Paris Club to resolve her nation’s external debt crisis.
Between 2006 and 2007, she founded and co-founded three
organizations to directly benefit her region and country; these
include: NOI-Gallup Polls, a for-profit indigenous polling/opinion
research organization based in Abuja, Nigeria, the Makeda Fund, a
$50 million private equity fund mandated to invest in African
women-owned businesses, and the Centre for the Study of
Economies of Africa (C-SEA), a non-profit think tank based in
Abuja, Nigeria.
Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has authored and co-authored three works
including Chinua Achebe: Teacher of Light; The Debt Trap in
Nigeria: Towards a Sustainable Debt Strategy; and Reforming the
Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria. She is the recipient of the
2006 Nigerian of the Year Award.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
BIRTHDATE
13 June 1954
EDUCATION
International School
Ibadan, Harvard University,
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
PLACE OF BIRTH
Ogwashi-Uku, Nigeria
RESIDENCY
Federal Republic of Nigeria
LANGUAGES
English, French, Igbo,
Yoruba

Ngozi Okonjo-IwealaOutstanding
Women Leaders

37

Navanethem (Navi) Pillay is the 16th
Commissioner of the
International Commission Against the Death Penalty. A well-known
international jurist, Ms. Pillay served as United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014.
A lifelong advocate for international human rights, Ms. Pillay was
the first non-white woman in Natal Province, South Africa, to
open her own law practice. She played a major role in the struggle
against Apartheid, serving as defense attorney for anti-Apartheid
activists, and successfully suing the state to prevent police from
using unlawful interrogation methods against her own husband and
others detained for anti-Apartheid activities. In 1973, she won the
right for political prisoners on Robben Island, including Nelson
Mandela, to have access to lawyers.
Following the end of Apartheid, Ms. Pillay continued to fight for
the rights of domestic violence victims and as a member of the
Women’s National Coalition, contributed to the inclusion in South
Africa’s Constitution of an equality clause prohibiting
discrimination on the grounds of race, religion and sexual
orientation.
In 1992, she co-founded the international women's rights group,
Equality Now. Soon after Nelson Mandela became president of
South Africa in 1994, he nominated Pillay to the country’s High
Court. She was the first non-white woman to serve on the bench.
Later, Ms. Pillay served as a judge on two international courts,
spending eight years with the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda (including four years as its President) and five years as a
judge on the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Each of
these courts has been charged with prosecuting perpetrators
responsible for the most egregious forms of human rights
violations, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and
genocide, and are at the forefront of the development of
international criminal law and justice. Ms. Pillay left her post at
the ICC to serve as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
in September 2008.
In 2003, Ms. Pillay received the inaugural Gruber Prize for
Women’s Rights. She has been awarded honorary degrees from
Durham University, The City University of New York School of
Law, the London School of Economics, Rhodes University and the
University of Leuven.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Navanethem (Navi) Pillay
BIRTHDATE
23 September 1941
EDUCATION
University of Natal,
Harvard University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Durban, South Africa
RESIDENCY
Geneva, Switzerland
LANGUAGES
English
Navanethem (Navi) PillayOutstanding
Women Leaders

38

Official UN Secretary-General Nominee
Nominated by the Government of Croatia, September 2015
Dr. Vesna Pusić is First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia. Dr. Pusić is an
accomplished sociologist and politician, graduating in 1976 with a
degree in philosophy from the University of Zagreb and earning a
doctorate in sociology in 1984 from the University of Zagreb.
As an academic she conducted research at the International
Research Group – IDE (1975 to 1979), the Institute of Sociology
at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia (1976 to 1978) and since
1978 she has been associated with the University of Zagreb. Her
research covers theories of industrial democracy and the sociology
of politics. Dr. Pusić has also lectured at the University of
Chicago, Cornell University, American University in Washington
DC and the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.
In 1978, Dr. Pusić and seven other women formed the first
feminist organization in SFR Yugoslavia, Žena i društvo. She was
also a founder and director of the nongovernmental organization,
Erasmus Guild (1993-1998), which promoted cultural democracy
in post-conflict transition Croatia and the Balkans.
Dr. Pusić entered politics officially as a founding member of the
Croatian People’s Party in 1990. After leaving for a few years, she
returned in 1992 and later served as president of the party from
2000 and 2008, and later again in 2013. In 2000, she was elected
to the Croatian Parliament and from 2003 to 2007 she served as
the Deputy Speaker. From 2006 to 2012, she was the vice-
president of the European Liberal Democratic and Reform Party
and from 2008 to 2012 she was the Chairperson of the National
Committee for Monitoring the Accession Negotiations between
Croatia and the European Union. Dr. Pusić ran as the HNS-LD
party candidate for president of Croatia during the 2009-2010
election, and served in 2013 as the party’s president.
In September 2015, the Croatian government formally nominated
Dr. Pusić as a candidate for the position of UN Secretary-General.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Vesna Pusić
BIRTHDATE
25 April 1953
EDUCATION
University of Zagreb
PLACE OF BIRTH
Zagreb, Yugoslavia
RESIDENCY
Zagreb, Croatia
LANGUAGES
Croatian, English, German

Vesna PusićOutstanding
Women Leaders

39

Mary Robinson served as a first female President of Ireland from
1990 to 1997 and as United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights from 1997 to 2002. She is president of the Mary
Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice.
Born in Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland, Ms. Robinson earned her
Bachelor of law degree at Trinity College and her professional
Barrister-at-Law degree from King’s Inns, Dublin in 1967. That
same year she pursued a Master’s degree in law at Harvard Law
School. Upon returning to Ireland, she was appointed Tutor at
University College Dublin and became a Reid Professor of
Constitutional and Criminal Law at Trinity College.
In 1969 Ms. Robinson presented herself as a candidate to the
Senate and won the election. She served as a member of the Senate
for the next 20 years, advocating legal reforms and arguing
landmark cases before national courts; the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR); and the European Court in Luxembourg.
In 1973 Ms. Robinson became a member of the English Bar and
three years later a Senior Counsel. She also served as a member of
the Advisory Commission of Inter-Rights and of the International
Commission of Jurists. In 1990 the Labour Party nominated
Robinson as an independent candidate for the presidency. She won
that election and became the first female President of Ireland. In
office Ms. Robinson focused on issues concerning emigrants of
Irish decent, empowering women and improving the relations with
Northern Ireland.
In 1997, Ms. Robinson was appointed as UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights. Following completion of her term in 2002, she
established the Ethical Globalization Initiative, known as
Realizing Rights, which focuses on African countries.
Ms. Robinson has served as Chair of the Business Leaders
Initiative on Human Rights and, in 2007, she was invited by
Nelson Mandela to become a member of the Elders, an
independent group of global leaders who work together for peace
and human rights.
She is the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a
former Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Mary Robinson
BIRTHDATE
21 May 1944
EDUCATION
Trinity College, Ireland,
King’s Inns, Harvard Law
School
PLACE OF BIRTH
Ballina, County Mayo,
Ireland
RESIDENCY
Ireland
LANGUAGES
English, French

Mary RobinsonOutstanding
Women Leaders

40

Erna Solberg serves as Prime Minister of Norway since 2013 and
is the second woman to ever hold the position.
She has dedicated her entire career to government service and has
served at almost every level of public office in Norway. Born and
raised in Bergen, Norway Ms. Solberg graduated from the
University of Bergen in 1986, where she had studied political
science and economics, as well as led the Students’ League of the
Conservative Party.
During and after college, Ms. Solberg served as a deputy member
of Bergen’s City Council, from 1979 to 1983 and from 1987 to
1989, and continued to be active in the Conservative Party.
She moved from local to national politics in 1989 successfully
campaigning for a position in the Norwegian Parliament, the
Storting. Ms. Solberg was reelected to her post five times and from
1994 to 1998 served as the head of the national Conservative
Women's Association.
In 2001, Norwegian Prime Minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik,
appointed Ms. Solberg as Minister of Local Government and
Regional Development. She served in this position for four years
pushing forward reforms to Norway’s immigration policy,
including overhauling the asylum seeking process.
After leaving the Ministry Ms. Solberg became part of the
Conservative Party leadership, assuming the role of party leader in
2004. Under her guidance, the party began to take back ground in
parliament over the next several years and, in 2013, she led it to
take majority control. Ms. Solberg was appointed prime minister
of Norway in October of 2013, the second woman to ever hold the
position.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Erna Solberg
BIRTHDATE
24 February 1961
EDUCATION
University of Bergen
PLACE OF BIRTH
Bergen, Norway
RESIDENCY
Oslo, Norway
LANGUAGES
Norwegian, English

Erna SolbergOutstanding
Women Leaders

41

Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the first woman Prime Minister of
Denmark, having held the position since 2011.
Born in 1966 in Rødovre, Denmark, Ms. Thorning-Schmidt
studied politics at the University in Copenhagen and in 1993
received her Master’s degree in public policy and administration
from the European College in Bruges. She was politically active
during her time at university and became a social democrat.
After graduation she helped lead the secretariat of the Danish
delegation of Social Democrats in the European Parliament from
1994 to 1997. Afterwards she worked as an international
consultant for several years with the Danish Confederation of
Trade Unions.
In 1999 she was elected to the European Parliament. During her
five-year term she served on the Employment and Social
Committee and co-founded the Campaign for Parliament Reform
(CPR). In 2005, the head of Denmark’s Social Democrats stepped
down after a disappointing show for the party in the 2005
parliamentary elections. Ms. Thorning-Schmidt ran and won a
successful campaign to become his successor.
She is the first woman to hold the top leadership position in the
party. In 2007 she helped the Social Democrats regain some of the
seats they had lost earlier in Denmark’s parliament, the Folketing,
and during the 2011 elections she guided the Social Democrats to
form a four-party coalition majority.
During her service as Prime Minister, Ms. Thorning-Schmidt has
pushed for reform of the country’s restrictive immigration policy
and supported investment in jobs to revive the Danish economy
rather than through austerity.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Helle Thorning-Schmidt
BIRTHDATE
14 December 1966
EDUCATION
University in Copenhagen,
European College in
Bruges
PLACE OF BIRTH
Rødovre, Denmark
RESIDENCY
Denmark
LANGUAGES
Danish, English,
French

Helle Thorning-SchmidtOutstanding
Women Leaders

42

Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti has served as Permanent
Representative of Brazil to Germany since 2013. She served
previously as Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United
Nations from 2007 to 2013, and President of the UN Security
Council for the month of February 2011.
Ms. Viotti was raised in Brazil and earned her bachelor’s and post-
graduate degrees in economics from the University of Brasilia. She
attended the Rio Branco Institute, a prestigious Brazilian
diplomatic academy prior to joining the Brazilian Foreign Service
in 1976. During her tenure as a civil servant, she held various
positions within the Ministry of External Relations, including
Director-General of the Department of International
Organizations; Director-General of the Department of Human
Rights and Social Affairs; Secretary-General of the South America
Division; and Executive Coordinator in the cabinet of the Minister
of External Relations.
From 1985 to 1989, Ms. Viotti served as First Secretary at the
Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations. She was
appointed from 1993 to 1995 as Counselor at the Embassy of
Brazil to Bolivia. In 1999, Ms Viotti returned to New York and the
Brazilian Mission, serving as Minister-Counselor. She was
appointed Vice-Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee for the
Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in2002,
and also led the Brazilian delegation in its preparatory negotiations
for the International Conference on Financing and Development.
In 2005, Ms. Viotti was assigned the post of Chargé d’Affaires of
Brazil to the United Nations, before being appointed in 2007 as
Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations by then-
President Luiz Inácio da Silva.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti
BIRTHDATE
27 March 1954
EDUCATION
University of Brasília, Rio
Branco Institute
PLACE OF BIRTH
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
RESIDENCY
Berlin, Germany
LANGUAGES
Portuguese, English

Maria Luiza ViottiOutstanding
Women Leaders

43

Margot Wallström is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden.
Her career as a diplomat is rooted in decades of experience in both
the public and private sectors.
After graduating from high school in 1973, she became active in
the Swedish Social Democrats Youth League and ran for
parliament in 1979. Ms. Wallström served as a representative until
1985 and then spent the next decade holding a variety of jobs in
banking, media, and civil affairs.
From 1988 to 1991 Ms. Wallström was appointed Minister for
Consumer Affairs, Women and Youth. In 1993 she became part of
the Executive Committee of the Swedish Social Democratic Party,
and from 1994 to 1996, she was appointed Minister of Culture.
She then served as Minister for Social Affairs from 1996 to 1998,
before taking on a new assignment from 1999 to 2004 as European
Commission for the Environment.
Ms. Wallström‘s time serving on the European Commission
strengthened her experience in international diplomacy and led to
her appointment to the European Commission for Institutional
Relations and Communication Strategy, a position she held from
2004 to 2009.
In 2010, UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon appointed Ms. Wallström to
the position of Special Representative of the Secretary-General
(SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict, a position she held for
three years.
In October 2014, Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, selected
Ms. Wallström to become Minister of Foreign Affairs. Her tenure
in this role has been distinguished by a strong commitment to
women’s rights and supporting peace in the Middle East.
QUICK FACTS
NAME
Margot Wallström
BIRTHDATE
28 September 1954
EDUCATION
High School Diploma
PLACE OF BIRTH
Skellefteå, Sweden
RESIDENCY
Stockholm, Sweden
LANGUAGES
Swedish, English

Margot WallströmOutstanding
Women Leaders

44

© WomanSG 2015
Campaign to Elect a Woman UN Secretary-General
a special initiative of
the City College of New York
Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership
North Academic Center
160 Convent Avenue
New York, NY 10031
@She4SG
WomanSG

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