Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala serves as the seventh Director-General of the World Trade Organization, a position she has held since March 2021. She is the first woman and the first African to lead the organization. In November 2024, all 166 WTO members reappointed her by consensus, and she began her second four-year term on 1 September 2025.

A development economist with over 40 years of experience across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala twice served as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, from 2003 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2015, becoming the first woman to hold that office. During her first term, she led negotiations that resulted in the cancellation of $18 billion of Nigeria’s external debt by the Paris Club of Creditors. She built a 25-year career at the World Bank, rising to Managing Director of Operations with oversight of an $81 billion portfolio spanning Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia. She has also served as Chair of the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and as African Union Special Envoy for COVID-19 financing.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Economics and earned her Ph.D. in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has received honorary degrees from 21 universities worldwide and has been recognized on Forbes’ list of the 100 Most Powerful Women and TIME’s 100 Most Influential People on multiple occasions.