Mary Robinson

President Mary Robinson has the acute ability to focus the global spotlight on highly important humanitarian issues. With compassion at the forefront of her politics, she has led the world with a strong, ethical vision for the future.

As the first woman President of Ireland, she elevated the country to a new level of international status, by fighting for controversial changes and bridging religious, social and economic groups. Now as Chair of the Women World Leaders, she shares ways in which women can exercise leadership on all levels. She also serves on the Board of the prestigious Mastercard Foundation, a newly established independent foundation focusing on microfinance, youth entrepreneurship and education. And, through her role as Vice President of Club of Madrid, she continues her campaign for worldwide democracy.

As the first woman to chair the United Nations Commission for Human Rights, she demonstrated skills as an academic, legislator and human rights lawyer to implement social change. Presently, as Founder of The Ethical Globalization Initiative, President Robinson remains a courageous defender of fundamental respect for human life, advocating for the integration of human rights, gender sensitivity and enhanced accountability into governing.

In 2005, President Robinson was deemed a hero and an icon and was listed as one of Time’s top 100 men and women whose “power, talent or moral example is transforming the world.” Recently, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honor—for her significant contributions to the nation and the world.

Determined to leave this world in better condition than how she found it, President Robinson continues to excel in her role as leader, catalyst and communicator.

On receiving the US Presidential Medal of Freedom:

"I am extremely humbled and honored to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama. It is a remarkable honor. We must not allow ourselves to become over familiar with or lose sight of the intolerable. Contemporary savagery continues to thrive in our 21st century and will do so unless we all accept the challenge posed by President Obama and act as agents of change."

-Mary Robinson