Catherine Bertini was born in the United States in 1950. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the State University of New York at Albany. For five years after college, she held positions in the Republican Party. In 1982, she ran for US Congress in the 9th District of Illinois.
Bertini was the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program from 1992 to 2002 and was named the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate for her transformational leadership there. She served as the United Nation’s Under-Secretary for Management from 2003 to 2005. From 2007 to 2009, she served as a Senior Fellow in Agricultural Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In 2005, Bertini joined the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University where she taught graduate courses in humanitarian action, post conflict reconstruction, girls’ education, UN management, food security, international organizations, and leadership. In 2018, she was named Professor Emeritus.
Bertini delivered the Beatty Lecture on October 17, 1995, titled “Women Eat Last”.
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