In March of 2021, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala became the first woman and first African appointed to serve as the director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Okonjo-Iweala is an economist and international development professional with over 30 years of experience working across five continents. Previously, she served two terms as the minister of finance in Nigeria from 2003 to 2006 and from 2011 to 2015, where she was the first woman to hold the position. Never idle, Okonjo-Iweala served as the managing director of World Bank from 2007 to 2011 in between her terms as Nigeria’s minister of finance. She has also held countless leadership and advisory positions across numerous international nonprofits. She served as chair of the board at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance from 2016 to 2022, responsible for the immunization of 760 million children around the globe; in 2020, she was appointed a COVID-19 special envoy for the African Union and played a crucial role throughout the pandemic, charged with negotiating international financial assistance and mobilizing global support for the continent.
