President Sirleaf was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her achievements as a global leader for women’s empowerment. She is also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor, for her personal courage and unwavering commitment to expanding freedom and improving the lives of Africans. After stepping down from the presidency in a peaceful and democratic transfer of power in 2018, she became the first woman honored with the Mo Ibrahim Prize, considered the most prestigious award for African leadership.

President Sirleaf has been ranked among the world’s most influential leaders, including being named among the top 100 most powerful women in the world (Forbes), the most powerful woman in Africa (Forbes Africa), one of Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year, and among the world’s best leaders by Newsweek and TIME. The Economist once described her as “the best president the country has ever had.” She remains a leading global advocate for freedom, peace, justice, women’s rights, and democratic governance.

President Sirleaf began her career in Liberia’s Treasury Department in 1965. In 1979, she rose to the position of Minister of Finance and introduced measures to address the mismanagement of government finances. After the 1980 military coup d’état, she became president of the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment but was forced to flee the country as the regime grew increasingly repressive. She went on to serve in major international roles, including vice president of Citicorp’s Africa regional office in Nairobi, senior loan officer at the World Bank, and vice president of Equator Bank.

She later served as assistant administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and as director of its Regional Bureau for Africa, with the rank of assistant secretary-general of the United Nations. She resigned from this post to run in Liberia’s 1997 presidential election and, after placing second, lived in exile in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire. During this time she established a venture capital vehicle for African entrepreneurs and founded Measuagoon, a Liberian community development NGO.

President Sirleaf was elected President of the Republic of Liberia in 2005, two years after the country’s brutal civil war ended. During her two terms, she focused on rebuilding the nation’s economy and institutions, attracting more than $16 billion in foreign direct investment. She secured $4.6 billion in external debt forgiveness and successfully negotiated the lifting of UN trade sanctions, enabling Liberia to reenter international markets. Under her leadership, the national budget grew from $80 million in 2006 to more than $672 million by 2012, with annual GDP growth exceeding 7 percent in 2011.

Her leadership extended far beyond Liberia. In 2016, she became the first female Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). She was also appointed co-chair of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, helping craft a global roadmap for sustainable development. In 2018, the International Monetary Fund named her to an external advisory group focused on global economic surveillance and financial policy.

After leaving office in 2018, President Sirleaf joined The Elders, the group of global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu that works to advance peace, justice, and human rights worldwide. She was later appointed the World Health Organization’s Global Ambassador for the Health Workforce and served as co-chair of the WHO’s Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. She also became a member of the inaugural Development Advisory Council of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. She now chairs the African High-Level Ministerial Committee on Global Health Architecture Reform, launched by Africa CDC in April 2026 to strengthen Africa’s voice in global health governance and financing.

President Sirleaf also founded the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development, which advances women’s leadership across Africa. Its flagship Amujae Initiative, launched in 2020, prepares and supports women to excel in public leadership through training, coaching, mentorship, and a network of experienced leaders.

President Sirleaf has received numerous honors and distinctions throughout her career, including the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, the Grand Croix of the Légion d’Honneur from France, and many others recognizing her global leadership. She has also received honorary doctorates from more than fifteen institutions, including Harvard University, Yale University, Georgetown University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Rutgers University, and the University of Minnesota. President Sirleaf has written widely on financial, development, and human rights issues, and in 2008 she published her critically acclaimed memoir, This Child Will Be Great.

Drawing on decades of leadership at the highest levels of global politics, diplomacy, and development, President Sirleaf brings a powerful perspective to audiences around the world. She speaks with universities, global forums, corporations, and policy leaders about democratic leadership, economic development, women’s empowerment, and the lessons learned rebuilding nations in times of crisis. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf works in partnership with APB Speakers for speaking engagements worldwide.

Born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, she is the granddaughter of a traditional chief of renown in western Liberia and a market woman from the southeast. Educated in the United States, she holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, earned a degree in accounting from Madison Business College in Wisconsin, and received a diploma from the University of Colorado’s Economics Institute. She is the proud mother of four sons and grandmother of twelve. Read Less ^