Asia Society Appoints Josette Sheeran As New President

- Sheeran to Bring World Leadership and Diplomatic Experience To Broaden Asia Society's Global Initiatives

NEW YORK, May 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Asia Society announced the appointment of Josette Sheeran, the Vice Chair of The World Economic Forum, as the seventh President and CEO of the institution. Ms. Sheeran will assume the office on June 10.

"Josette Sheeran is a proven executive with a long and successful record of global leadership and far-reaching diplomatic experience with the nations of Asia," Asia Society Board Co-Chairs Henrietta Fore and Ronnie Chan said in a joint statement.  "We are delighted that she will be Asia Society's next President at this time of continued growth for our organization."

At the World Economic Forum, which hosts the annual Davos and 'Davos in China' gathering of world leaders, Sheeran has helped advance global initiatives and global, regional and industry agendas such as "Grow Africa," which has attracted $4 billion in investment commitments to end hunger and malnutrition in Africa. This spring she also served at the Harvard Kennedy School as a Fisher Fellow in the Future of Diplomacy.

Prior to her tenure at the World Economic Forum, Sheeran was Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006.  There she was responsible for managing the world's largest humanitarian organization, leading a team of 13,000 people in more than 70 countries, and managing an annual budget of more than US$3 billion - including $1 billion in Asia.

Ms. Sheeran has also held senior positions in the U.S. government, and in those positions she conducted high-level diplomacy with virtually every nation in Asia. As U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business, and Agricultural Affairs, she led new State Department initiatives which supported economic transformation and reconstruction in Afghanistan and Central Asia and with APEC and ASEAN.  Earlier she served for five years as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, conducting negotiations across Asia, including with China, Australia, Singapore, India, Korea, and Japan.

"I am very honored to be selected to lead the premier institution connecting Asia to the world and the world to Asia," said Sheeran.  "It will be a great privilege to play a central role in the explosion of exchanges between east and the west - in diplomacy, arts and culture, and in education.  The Asia Society trustees and staff are renowned and respected for their deep knowledge and quality of work in these areas.  I believe we will be able to leverage those qualities to bring the institution to new heights."

In 2011, Forbes named Josette Sheeran the world's 30th most powerful woman; Foreign Policy lists her among its top women on Twitter; and Sheeran's "Ted Talk" on ending world hunger has been viewed more than one million times.

To see the full release with photos go to: AsiaSociety.org/media.

About the Asia Society
Asia Society is the leading educational organization dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States in a global context. Across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, the Society provides insight, generates ideas, and promotes collaboration to address present challenges and create a shared future.

Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution with headquarters in New York, major centers in Hong Kong and Houston, and offices in Los Angeles, Manila, Mumbai, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, and Washington, DC.