A Visionary African Leader- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

NEW YORK, April 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Rockefeller Foundation today announced the appointment to its Board of Trustees of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a Managing Director of the World Bank and former Nigerian Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs.

"Ngozi is an exceptional leader with an outstanding record of achievement in the field of poverty alleviation and economic reforms in Africa," said James F. Orr, III, the Board's chairman. "We have continued to add Trustees to the Board who can bring specific, diverse skills, experiences and perspectives that meet the needs of the Foundation as it advances its mission for the 21st century. The Board will benefit enormously from Ngozi's important insight into the major issues confronting today's globalized world."

"Ngozi has outstanding breadth and depth of experience and I will cherish her stewardship and counsel," said Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation. "As we support a new generation of innovative solutions shaped by and for the people of developing countries, Ngozi's unique insight will prove immeasurably valuable."

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, 54, served from 2003 until 2006 as Nigeria's Minister of Finance, and earned international acclaim for her work on economic reform, fiscal transparency and financial stability During 2006, she also served as Minister for Foreign Affairs and was the first woman in Nigeria to hold the two posts. Previously, she worked for 21 years at the World Bank as a development economist, rising to the post of Vice President and Corporate Secretary.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala graduated from Harvard and received a Ph.D. in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has received numerous awards and honorary degrees for her work and serves on the boards of the ONE Campaign, the World Resources Institute, the Nelson Mandela Institution, Friends of the Global Fund of Africa, and the African Institute of Science and Technology, among others.

The Rockefeller Foundation fosters innovative solutions to many of the world's most intractable challenges, affirming its mission, since 1913, to "promote the well-being" of humanity. Today, the Rockefeller Foundation works to ensure that more people can tap into globalization's benefits while strengthening resilience to its risks. 

Foundation initiatives include efforts to mobilize an agricultural revolution in sub-Saharan Africa, build new markets for Impact Investing, support strategies and services that strengthen economic security for American workers, inform more equitable, sustainable transportation policies in the United States, help communities cope with the impacts of imminent and worsening climate change, and assure access to affordable and high-quality health systems in developing countries. For more information, visit www.rockfound.org.

SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation