ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF (Liberia)

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is a Liberian politician and economist who was president of Liberia (2006-2018). She was the first woman to be elected head of state of an African country.

Johnson Sirleaf was one of three recipients, along with Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman, of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Peace for their efforts to further women’s rights. She has received numerous other awards for her leadership.

In June 2016, Sirleaf was elected as the Chair of the Economic Community of West African States, making her the first woman to hold the position since it was created.

In 2018, Johnson Sirleaf founded the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development, which aims “to be a catalyst for change across Africa, by helping unleash its most abundant untapped power – its women”.

In 2019, Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom appointed Johnson Sirleaf as the WHO Goodwill Ambassador for the health workforce.