Humanitarian Action: Saving Lives, Facilitating Change, Working Toward Peace

Catherine Bertini, Professor of Practice in Public Administration, Syracuse University Maxwell School of Public Affairs; former Under-Secretary General for Management, United Nations and Executive Director, World Food Program; former Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Catherine Bertini's career spans public service at international, national, state, and local levels and includes private sector leadership and university teaching. She was the driving force behind reform of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), where she was the Chief Executive for ten years. During her tenure, WFP's institutional changes in the areas of efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability were cited by the United States government and the thirty-six-government board of WFP as a model of UN reform. Ms. Bertini is credited with assisting hundreds of millions of victims of wars and natural disasters throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. During Fall semester 2002, Ms. Bertini was a Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Ford School.

This lecture is supported by the Harry A. and Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence Program.

• Catherine Bertini
• Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence