Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala GCON was born on June 13, 1954 in Ogwashi-Ukwu in Delta State. She is a Nigerian-American economist, who has been currently serving as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation since March 2021.

Notably, she is the first woman and first African to lead the World Trade Organization as Director-General.

She sits on the boards of Danone, Standard Chartered Bank, MINDS: Mandela Institute for Development Studies. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, One Campaign, GAVI; Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, Rockefeller Foundation, R4D: Results for Development, ARC: African Risk Capacity and Earthshot Prize among others.

She also previously sat on the Twitter Board of Directors, and stepped down in February 2021 in connection with her appointment as Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

Okonjo-Iweala serves the Brooking Institution as a non-resident distinguished fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative in their Global Economy and Development Program. She is a Commissioner Emeritus and Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. At The World Bank, she had a 25-year career as a development economist, rising to become Managing Director for Operations from 2007 to 2011.

Okonjo-Iweala was the first Nigerian woman to serve two terms as Nigeria’s Finance Minister; initially, under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 2003 to 2006; and secondly, under President Goodluck Jonathan from 2011 to 2015.

Subsequently, from June to August 2006, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nigeria. In 2005, Euromoney named her Global Finance Minister of the Year. Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Queen's School, Enugu; St. Anne’s School, Molete, Ibadan, Oyo State; and the International School Ibadan.

She arrived in the US in 1973 to study at Harvard University and graduated magna cum laude with an AB in Economics in 1976. She earned a master's degree in city planning in 1978 and her PhD in regional economics and development in 1981 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the thesis Credit policy, rural financial markets, and Nigeria's agricultural development.

She received an international fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), which supported her doctoral studies.

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