Michelle Bachelet began serving her second term as President of Chile in 2014; her first term was from 2006-2010.
Raised in both Chile and the United States, Ms. Bachelet began her medical training at the University of Chile in 1970. Her medical studies were interrupted with Chile's 1973 coup d’état, which led to her father's imprisonment, torture and abuse-induced death.
Ms. Bachelet was exiled to Australia 1975. She returned to Chile in 1979 and finished her medical studies in 1983, initiated pre-junta. When her petition to become a general practitioner in the public center was rejected by the Pinochet regime due to “political reasons” she instead began her medical career in pediatrics and public health sectors. Throughout the 1980s Ms. Bachelet worked in various social services roles, particularly for the NGO Protection of Children Injured by States of Emergency Foundation (PIDEE), dedicated to providing professional help to children of those detained and victimized by the Pinochet military regime in the cities of Santiago and Chillán, Chile.
Following the return of democracy to Chile, in 1990 Ms. Bachelet began working in the Western Metropolitan Area Health Service, the National Aids Commission (Conasida), and became a consultant for the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), as well as Chile’s Ministry of Health.
Ms. Bachelet’s experience with both the Ministries of Defense and Health, led to her appointment as Chile's Minister of Health in 2000. During her tenure there she helped lay the groundwork for an overhaul of the Chilean health care system through a massive participative process. In 2002, Ms. Bachelet was appointed Minister of Defense, making her the first woman to hold the position both in Chile and Latin America.
Ms. Bachelet assumed her first term as president in 2006. In 2010, she accepted the role of President of the Social Protection Floor Advisory Group, a joint initiative with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Ms. Bachelet the first Director of the newly created program, UN Women. She served as Director for two and a half years before returning return to Chilean politics.
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NAME
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria
BIRTHDATE
29 September 1951
EDUCATION
Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Chile, National Academy of Strategy and Policy, The Inter-American Defense College
PLACE OF BIRTH
Chile
RESIDENCY
Chile
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese
Alicia Bárcena Ibarra currently serves as Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), having been appointed to the position on 1 July 2008.
Born in Mexico, Ms. Bárcena Ibarra graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and from Harvard University with a Master’s degree in Public Administration. She initiated Ph.D. studies in Economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Bárcena Ibarra served in the government of Mexico as the first Vice-Minister of Ecology and as Director-General of the National Institute of Fisheries. Ms. Bárcena Ibarra was Founding Director of the Earth Council in Costa Rica, a non-governmental organization in charge of follow-up to the agreements reached at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While serving at the Earth Council, she was Principal Officer in charge of various topics related to Agenda 21.
She later served as Coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Sustainable Development Programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), responsible for the Environmental Citizenship Project at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Before becoming the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Ms. Bárcena Ibarra also served the organization as Deputy Executive Secretary and Director of ECLACs Environment and Human Settlements Division. During this earlier period with ECLAC, contributed substantively and increased interagency collaboration to provide a regional perspective on the Millennium Development Goals and on Financing for Sustainable Development, connecting issues of inequality, poverty, economic development and sustainability with the required fiscal policies needed to address extreme poverty.
She later served as Under-Secretary-General for Management at United Nations Headquarters in New York, and as former Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Chef de Cabinet and Deputy Chef de Cabinet.
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NAME
Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
BIRTHDATE
5 March 1952
EDUCATION
National Autonomous University of Mexico, Harvard University
PLACE OF BIRTH
Mexico
RESIDENCY
Mexico
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English
María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar was appointed to be Colombia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs by President Juan Manuel Santos in 2010.
With over two decades of diplomatic service and experience in the public and private sectors, she has distinguished herself as a leader both at home in Colombia and abroad.
As a university student Ms. Holguín studied public policy and political science at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia and the Centre d´Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques in Paris, France.
Her career in diplomacy began in 1992 when she served as the Commercial Attaché of the Embassy of Colombia in France. From 1995 to 1997, Ms. Holguín worked as the Technical Secretary of the Ministerial Meeting on Cultural Affairs and of the XI Summit of Chiefs of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement.
In 1992, she joined the Worldview International Foundation as their Regional Director for Latin America, a position she held until 2002. Later that same year Ms. Holguín was appointed the Ambassador of Colombia to Venezuela.
And as a highlight of an already accomplished diplomatic career, from 2004 to 2005 Ms. Holguín served as Colombia’s 25th Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
In 2006, she returned to Colombia to serve as the Head of the Cabinet of the Vice-President of the Republic. Ms. Holguín held this post for two years and then returned briefly to the private sector as the Andean Development Corporation (CAF)’s representative in Argentina.
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NAME
María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar
BIRTHDATE
13 November 1963
EDUCATION
Universidad de los Andes, Centre d´Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques
PLACE OF BIRTH
Bogotá, Colombia
RESIDENCE
Colombia
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English
Rebeca Grynspan, economist and former Vice President of Costa Rica, was elected unanimously in 2014 as the first woman to head the Ibero-American Secretariat (SEGIB). SEGIB works with Heads of State and Government from Latin America, Andorra, Portugal, Spain, and other national and nongovernmental authorities to promote sustainable economic, social, and cultural development.
Ms. Grynspan served previously in a number of roles with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 2006 to 2010, including as Associate Administrator and Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director of UNDP’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. She was also President of the Gender Steering and Implementation Committee (GSIC); member of the UN Millennium Project’s Task Force on Poverty and Economic Development; gender spokesperson for the UNDP Executive Board; UN Representative on the Temporary Committee for the Reconstruction of Haiti; and member of the UN High-Level Panel on Financing for Development.
From 2001 to 2006, Ms. Grynspan was Director of the Subregional Headquarters in Mexico of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). During her tenure with ECLAC she served as Co-Chair of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Executive Board. Through that position she served on the advisory group for the Inter-American Development Bank’s Programme for the Support of Women’s Leadership and Representation (PROLEAD), the first fund created by a multilateral financial institution specifically aimed at advancing women’s political empowerment in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
From 1996 to 1998, she held concurrently the offices of Vice President and Minister of Housing. Ms. Grynspan also served as Costa Rica’s Coordinating Minister of Social Affairs and Vice-Minister of Finance. During her tenure as Vice President, she oversaw the establishment of the Task Force on Poverty, developing programming aimed at empowering female heads of households.
Ms. Grynspan earned her Bachelor’s Degree in economics from the University of Costa Rica and her Master’s Degree in economics from the University of Sussex, U.K. She also served as a professor and researcher at the Economic Science Research Institute at the University of Costa Rica.
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NAME
Rebeca Grynspan
BIRTHDATE
14 December 1955
EDUCATION
University of Costa Rica, University of Sussex
PLACE OF BIRTH
San José, Costa Rica
RESIDENCY
United States
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English
Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti
Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti has served as Permanent Representative of Brazil to Germany since 2013. She served previously as Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations from 2007 to 2013, and President of the UN Security Council for the month of February 2011.
Ms. Viotti was raised in Brazil and earned her bachelor’s and post-graduate degrees in economics from the University of Brasilia. She attended the Rio Branco Institute, a prestigious Brazilian diplomatic academy prior to joining the Brazilian Foreign Service in 1976. During her tenure as a civil servant, she held various positions within the Ministry of External Relations, including Director-General of the Department of International Organizations; Director-General of the Department of Human Rights and Social Affairs; Secretary-General of the South America Division; and Executive Coordinator in the cabinet of the Minister of External Relations.
From 1985 to 1989, Ms. Viotti served as First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations. She was appointed from 1993 to 1995 as Counselor at the Embassy of Brazil to Bolivia. In 1999, Ms Viotti returned to New York and the Brazilian Mission, serving as Minister-Counselor. She was appointed Vice-Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee for the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in2002, and also led the Brazilian delegation in its preparatory negotiations for the International Conference on Financing and Development.
In 2005, Ms. Viotti was assigned the post of Chargé d’Affaires of Brazil to the United Nations, before being appointed in 2007 as Permanent Representative of Brazil to the United Nations by then-President Luiz Inácio da Silva.
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NAME
Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti
BIRTHDATE
27 March 1954
EDUCATION
University of Brasília, Rio Branco Institute
PLACE OF BIRTH
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
RESIDENCY
Berlin, Germany
LANGUAGES
Portuguese, English
Christiana Figueres directed the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21), helping to bring together the interests of world leaders as they negotiated an international agreement to reduce global warming. Following the failed climate change negotiations at the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009, Ms. Figueres, in her commitment to achieving a universally agreed-upon regulatory framework, assumed responsibility for the annual conferences. In the lead up to COP21, Ms. Figueres directed productive Conferences of the Parties in Cancun 2010, Durban 2011, Doha 2012, Warsaw 2013, and Lima 2014, before finally arriving at the Paris Agreement of 2015.
Ms. Figueres served as the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for two successful terms until July 2016. She was originally appointed to this position in 2010 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and was reappointed for a second, three-year term in 2013.
Ms. Figueres was born into a political family; her father, José Figueres Ferrer, served as president of Costa Rica on three occasions, between 1948-1949; 1953-1958; and 1970-74. Her mother Karen Olsen Beck, served as Costa Rican Ambassador to Israel in 1982 and was member of the national Legisative Assembly from 1990 to 1994. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Swarthmore College; a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology from London School of Economics; and a certificate in Organizational Development from Georgetown University. She was awarded an honorary doctorate of law degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston n 2014.
Ms. Figueres began her life as a public servant at the Embassy of Costa Rica in Germany in 1982. Following this post, was appointed Director of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Planning from 1987 to 1988, and subsequently Chief of Staff to the Minister of Agriculture from 1988 to 1990.
Following a move to the United States in the early 1990s, Ms. Figueres accepted a position as Director of Renewable Energy in the Americas (REIA) and in 1995 founded the non-profit, Center for Sustainable Development of the Americas (CSDA). She directed CSDA for eight years, helping to establish national climate change programs in Argentina, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama.
A longstanding promoter of Latin America’s active participation in global climate change policy, Ms. Figueres has contributed to the analytical literature on the design of the climate regime. She has served as a high level advisor to both governments and private companies regarding climate change, and has published widely on Latin America, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), climate regime design, and capacity building.
In 2001, Ms. Figueres was awarded the Hero for the Planet Award by National Geographic Magazine.
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NAME
Karen Christiana Figueres Olsen
BIRTHDATE
7 August 1956
EDUCATION
Swarthmore College, London School of Economics, Georgetown University
PLACE OF BIRTH
San José, Costa Rica
RESIDENCY
United States
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English, German
Virginia Gamba assumed the position of UN Assistant Secretary-General for disarmament issues, appointed personally by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in the fall 2015. Previously, she was Director and Deputy to the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs beginning December 2012, supporting all arms control, non-proliferation and related security matters of the Office for Disarmament Affairs.
Ms. Gamba has had a long and distinguished career in the United Nations, the non-governmental field, academia and research organizations worldwide. She served as Director of South-South Interactions for SaferAfrica, Deputy Director of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, South Africa, and Director of the Disarmament and Conflict Resolution programme of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva. Prior to this, Ms. Gamba acted as Programme Officer for Arms Control, Disarmament and Demobilization at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago.
From 1983 to 1992, Ms. Gamba was lecturer and visiting professor at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, the University of Maryland and American University in Washington D.C. among others. Her experience on strategic studies and foreign policy included the transformation of the military curricula in Argentina and the professionalization of the Latin American armed forces under democracy.
Her research experience includes being core member of the Stockholm Initiative on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration; the International Peace Academy project on the Economic Dimensions of Conflict; and the Kroc Institute project on the dynamics of violence. Ms. Gamba undertook extensive work in the field of disarmament during peace support operations as well as in assisting regional organizations, such as the Africa Union, in setting up continent-wide plans of action for the control of illicit trafficking in firearms. She is author of over forty publications on all aspects of the international peace and disarmament agenda. During her tenure on the Executive Committee of the Pugwash Conferences the organization won the Nobel Peace Prize.
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NAME:
Virginia Gamba
BIRTH DATE:
13 April 1954
EDUCATION:
University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK,
University of Salamanca, Spain
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK
PLACE OF BIRTH:
San Martin, Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English and French
Official Candidate for UN Secretary-General
Nominated by the Government of Argentina,
May 23, 2016
On May 23, 2016, international public servant Susana Malcorra became the 5th woman officially nominated by her country for UN Secretary-General. She was also recently appointed Minister of Foreign Relations by Argentine President Macri in November 2015 as a leader within his inaugural cabinet. In assuming the role, Ms. Malcorra resigned her position as Chef de Cabinet for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a position she has held since March 2012. As Chef de Cabinet, she was also a member of the UN’s Senior Management Group (SMG), chaired by the UN Secretary-General, which serves as a forum for planning and information sharing, as well as policy related matters, in response to emerging challenges and cross-cutting issues.
Prior to this appointment, in March 2008 Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Ms. Malcorra as Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, which provides dedicated support to all UN peacekeeping field missions and political field missions. In her role as USG, Ms. Malcorra served as the leading staff at UN headquarters for more than 120,000 military, civilian, and police personnel deployed around the world.
Between 2004 and 2008, Ms. Malcorra served as Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP). Throughout her tenure she oversaw daily emergency and humanitarian operations in more than 80 countries, including leading the initial phase of the operational response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami in December 2004.
Prior to entering the international civil service, Ms. Malcorra worked for twenty-five years in the private sector, advancing to leadership positions both at IBM and Telecom Argentina, where she served as that organization’s first female Chief Executive Officer.
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NAME
Susana Malcorra
BIRTHDATE:
1954
EDUCATION
University of Rosario, Argentina
PLACE OF BIRTH
Argentina
RESIDENCY
Argentina and New York
LANGUAGES
Spanish, English