Ertharin Cousin
| Ertharin Cousin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Executive Director of the World Food Programme | |
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Assumed office April 5, 2012 |
|
| Preceded by | Josette Sheeran |
| United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture | |
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In office August 17, 2009 – April 5, 2012 |
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| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Gaddi Vasquez |
| Succeeded by | David Lane |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1957 (age 59–60) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Alma mater |
University of Illinois, Chicago University of Georgia |
Ertharin Cousin (born 1957) is, since 2012, the twelfth Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme.
From 2009 to 2012, Cousin served under President Barack Obama as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, serving in Rome, Italy, and chief of the United States Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome. Before that, she worked in a variety of public and private sector positions, first as a Democratic Party official, later specializing in the food industry and related charities from the late 1990s on. In 2014, Cousin was ranked number 45th on the Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women and she was named to the TIME 100 most influential people in the world list.
Cousin grew up in the poor Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois along with her three sisters. Her mother, Anne Cousin, worked in the social services field and her father often engaged in volunteer community development work. In 1971, she was one of 300 female freshmen and 86 sophomores to enter Lane Technical High School, Chicago's top-rated high school of 5,000-plus students that had previously been all-male until that fall. She graduated in 1975.
Cousin earned a B.A. degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1979 and a J.D. degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1982. At the latter, she studied international law under former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk.
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