Ertharin Cousin is the 12th executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme. From 2009 to 2012, Ertharin Cousin served 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. As of August 2012, Cousin was ranked number 69 on Forbes magazine’s list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
