Helen Clark

Helen Clark General Information

Biography

Ms. Helen Clark serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board at &Green Fund. She was Prime Minister of New Zealand for three successive terms from 1999 to 2008. She was the first woman to become Prime Minister following a General Election in New Zealand and the second woman to serve as Prime Minister. In April 2009, Ms. Clark became Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. She was the first woman to lead the organization, and served two terms there. At the same time, she was Chair of the United Nations Development Group, a committee consisting of all UN funds, programmes, agencies, and departments working on development issues. As Administrator, she led UNDP to be ranked the most transparent global development organization. She completed her tenure in April 2017. Prior to entering the New Zealand Parliament, Ms. Clark taught in the Political Studies Department of the University of Auckland, from which she earlier graduated with her BA and MA (Hons) degrees. She serves on a number of advisory boards and commissions, including as Chair of the Board of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, and Chair of the Board of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health. From July 2020 to May 2021, Ms. Clark was a Co-Chair of The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response which was set up by the World Health Organisation's Director General at the request of the World Health Assembly (WHA).