Ertharin Cousin

Ertharin Cousin
Executive Director of the World Food Programme
In office April 5, 2012 – April 4, 2017
Secretary General	Ban Ki-moon António Guterres
Preceded by	Josette Sheeran
Succeeded by	David Beasley
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture
In office August 17, 2009 – April 5, 2012
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Gaddi Vasquez
Succeeded by	David Lane
Personal details
Born	1957 (age 66–67) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	University of Illinois, Chicago (BA) University of Georgia (JD)

Ertharin Cousin (born 1957) is an American lawyer who served as the twelfth executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme from 2012 to 2017. Following the completion of her term, Cousin became Payne Distinguished Professor at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, distinguished fellow at the Center on Food Security and the Environment and the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law,^[1] accepted an appointment as a distinguished fellow with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and became a trustee on the UK based Power of Nutrition Board of Directors.

Cousin served from 2009 to 2012 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 list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women^[2] and she was named to the Time 100 most influential people in the world list.