Ambassador Amanda Ellis

Focus Areas

Ambassador Amanda Ellis leads global partnerships for the exciting new ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and serves as co-chair for the WE Empower UN SDG Challenge.

Previously NZ Ambassador & Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Ms. Ellis also served as NZ’s inaugural Ambassador for Women and Girls, as well as Prime Minister’s Special Envoy playing a key role in New Zealand’s successful UN Security Council bid. She subsequently served as co-chair for the UN Security Council High Level Group on Humanitarian Access into Syria. Prior to that, as Deputy Secretary (International Development) in the New Zealand Foreign Ministry Ms. Ellis was the first woman to lead the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) Programme, managing an annual budget of over $0.6 billion.

Previous roles include Lead Specialist in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Group of the World Bank Group where she led the project that created “Women, Business and the Law.” She was Head of the Global Gender Group at the International Finance Corporation, and National Manager Women in Business at Westpac Banking Corporation. The author of two best-selling Random House business books, five research titles on gender and growth in the World Bank Directions in Development series, and the Gender Equality and Governance Index 2020, Ambassador Ellis is a founding member of the Global Banking Alliance for Women and the recipient of the TIAW Lifetime Achievement Award for services to women’s economic empowerment. She serves on a number of boards, including the Global Governance Forum and the Institute for Climate and Peace.