Ellen Johnson Sirleaf | |
---|---|
24th President of Liberia | |
Assumed office 18 January 2006 |
|
Vice President | Joseph Boakai |
Preceded by | Gyude Bryant |
Personal details | |
Born |
Ellen Johnson 29 October 1938 Monrovia, Liberia |
Political party | Unity Party |
Spouse(s) | James Sirleaf (Divorced) |
Children | 4 |
Alma mater |
Madison Business College University of Colorado, Boulder Harvard University |
Religion | Methodism |
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is the 24th and current President of Liberia, in office since 2006. She served as Minister of Finance under President William Tolbert from 1979 until the 1980 coup d'état, after which she left Liberia and held senior positions at various financial institutions. She placed second in the 1997 presidential election won by Charles Taylor. She won the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16 January 2006, and she was re-elected in 2011. Sirleaf is the first elected female head of state in Africa. In June 2016, she was elected as the Chair of the Economic Community of West African States, making her the first woman to occupy that position since it was formed.
Sirleaf was jointly awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen. The women were recognized "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."
Sirleaf was conferred the Indira Gandhi Prize by President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 12 September 2013. As of 2016, she is listed as the 83rd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.