- Josette Sheeran
President, Asia Society
International Organizations and Other Institutions
Josette Sheeran is the seventh President and CEO of Asia Society. She is responsible for advancing the organization’s global work in the fields of policy, business, education, culture and art.
Ms. Sheeran also serves as the UN Special Envoy to Haiti. Sheeran is former Vice Chair of the World Economic Forum, known for its annual Davos convening and Davos in China. She helped advance global initiatives encompassing global, regional and industry agendas such as Grow Africa, which has attracted $10 billion to end hunger and malnutrition in Africa.
Prior to the World Economic Forum, Sheeran was executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006. She led the world’s largest humanitarian organization, serving up to 100 million of the world's most hungry each year. Under Sheeran’s leadership, the WFP increased its donor base to more than 100 nations, and became the first UN program to include the so-called BRIC countries and the Gulf States among its top 10 donors.
Prior to this, Ms. Sheeran served as a diplomat and negotiator for the United States, including as U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, and deputy U.S. Trade Representative, handling Asia, Africa, Labor, Environment, Intellectual Property and trade capacity building portfolios.
In 2011, Forbes named her the world’s 30th most powerful woman; Foreign Policy listed her among its top 100 global 'Twitterati'. She was a Fisher Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center in 2013.
Sheeran is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. She was awarded Commandeur de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the government of France; Brazil`s highest civilian award, the Grand Official Order of the `Rio Branco;’ the “Game Changer” award by the Huffington Post; and Japan's Nigata International Food Award.
