Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Globally revered for her economic leadership, commitment to giving back and personal resilience, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala draws on a highly distinguished career as Nigeria’s first woman finance minister, first woman foreign minister, managing director of the World Bank and author of “Reforming the Unreformable”.

During her two-term tenure as finance minister (and briefly, a foreign minister), she has been the first woman to hold the position. Okonjo-Iweala developed economic reform programs that tripled Nigeria’s growth rate, facilitated an unprecedented $30 billion debt relief for Nigeria from the Paris Club and led to the country becoming the largest economy in Africa. As a managing director of the World Bank, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala led the operational activities of the most important development finance institution in the world in South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, and Africa.

A remarkable and fearless woman, Okonjo-Iweala is a committed leading thinker on gender issues and protecting the disadvantaged while deeply dedicated to serving others and aiding developing countries. For her work, she has received worldwide acclaim, having been included on FORTUNE’s 2015 list of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” Forbes’ 2015 and 2014 lists of the “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” and TIME’s 2014 list of the “100 Most Influential People.” In addition, she was placed on the 2016 Power with Purpose Roll List, a prestigious award which recognizes outstanding and influential women with leadership who have helped engineer recognizable change in their community and the world.