Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Educated at Harvard University
as an academic economist,
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf returned
to Liberia in 1972 to assume
a position in the Ministry of
Finance. But after clashes with
her bosses, and a military coup
in 1980, she began work as an
economist at the World Bank
in the U.S. From there, Sirleaf
returned to Africa to work in
the regional offices of Citibank,
before taking over the regional
office of the United Nations
Development Programme, where
she was involved in investigating
the United Nations' failure
to respond to the Rwandan
genocide.
Ellen
Johnson
Sirleaf
Ellen received the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2011 for
her efforts to explore,
expose and atone for
Liberia's history of
civil conflict.
14 | W H O ' S W H O 2013
