Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

A true “Iron Lady,” she was Africa’s first elected female president.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
b. 1938, Monrovia, Liberia
Works in Monrovia

If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.
—Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, commencement address, Harvard University, May 26, 2011

• Born and raised in Monrovia, Sirleaf studied economics and public administration at Harvard.
• Sirleaf served as finance minister under multiple pre-civil war Liberian administrations, earning a reputation for integrity in her clashes with the military governments. She was arrested several times and went into exile.
• In exile, Sirleaf served with multiple global institutions, including the World Bank, Citibank, and the United Nations.
• Sirleaf returned to Liberia in 2003 to chair the Commission on Good Governance, which sought to prepare the county for elections following two devastating civil wars.
• Elected twice to the presidency (2006–18), she worked to secure foreign investment and to have Liberia’s entire foreign debt forgiven. She instituted a Truth and Reconciliation Committee to address Liberia’s devastating recent decades, on which Leywah