Elizabeth Cousens became the UN Foundation’s third President and Chief Executive Officer in 2020. She is a diplomat and thought leader who has worked on the frontlines of peace processes, played an influential role in UN policy innovations from peacebuilding to the Sustainable Development Goals, and helped build public-private partnerships to solve global challenges at scale. She previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council, Alternate Representative to the UN General Assembly, and Principal Policy Advisor and Counselor to the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations. She has written widely on conflict management, peace processes, state-building, and the United Nations. She has a B.A. in History from the University of Puget Sound and a D.Phil. in International Relations from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.