Dr (Mrs.) Obiageli (Oby) Katryn Ezekwesili is a chartered accountant, former Nigerian Minister of Education, former Vice President for the World Bank and Vice-President for the World Bank’s program in Africa.

She was until recently the Senior Economic Advisor to Open Society, and currently runs the Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative (AEDPI), which provides policy expertise and advisory support to African Heads of Government and their cabinets. She is Co-Founder of #BringBackOurGirls Movement, a group of diverse citizens advocating for the speedy and effective search and rescue of schoolgirls abducted from the secondary school in Chibok on the 14, April 2014, Nigeria, and the Founder and Convener of the #RedCardMovement (RCM)

She was one of the co-founders of Transparency International, served as Special Assistant and Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on Budget Monitoring, and became Minister of Solid Minerals Development and later on Minister of Education.

Dr. Ezekwesili holds a Master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos, and a Masters in Public Policy and Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She was named one of 100 visionaries featured in the 3D book “Genius:100 Visionary Thinkers and Futured in a 3D book launched in Montreal, Canada in 2017 by Albert Einstein’s Foundations and recognized by Time Magazine as one of the Time-100 Most Influential People and by New York Times as one of the 25 Women of Impact for 2015, among several other numerous local, national and international awards.