Elizabeth M. Cousens

Ambassador Elizabeth M. Cousens is the President and CEO of the United Nations Foundation.[1] 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.

Before joining the Foundation, Elizabeth served for several years at the U.S. Mission to the UN in New York. She was Principal Policy Advisor and Counselor to the Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations and later served as the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council and Alternate Representative to the UN General Assembly where she led U.S. negotiations on the SDGs; served on the boards of UN agencies, funds, and programmes; and was U.S. representative to the UN Peacebuilding Commission.[2]

Prior to joining USUN, Cousens was Director of Strategy for The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre). Earlier, she served with UN political missions in Nepal and the Middle East and worked extensively on peacebuilding and development issues in conflict zones. Cousens was previously Vice President of the International Peace Institute, where she led initiatives on emerging global issues and UN reform, and Director of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum, a research group that provides country and regional expertise to the United Nations on crisis situations.

Elizabeth has a D.Phil. in International Relations from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, as well as a B.A. in history and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Puget Sound, where she delivered the 2007 Commencement Address. She has written widely on conflict management, peace processes, state-building, and the United Nations.[3]