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Politics
Kofi Annan:
Secretary-general of the United Nations
After joining the United Nations as a budget officer in 1962, Kofi Annan quietly worked his way up the ranks until in 1996 he was appointed secretary-general -- the highest position in the U.N. In 2001, Annan and the U.N. were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
FULL NAME
Kofi Atta Annan
BORN
April 8, 1938 in Kumasi, Ghana
EDUCATION
Bachelor's degree in economics from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, 1961; undertook graduate studies in economics at the Institut Universitaire des Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva, Switzerland, 1961-1962; master of science degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1972.
CAREER
Annan joined the United Nations in 1962 as an administrative and budget officer with the World Health Organization. He went on to serve in offices in New York, Geneva and Ethiopia. In 1992, he advanced to the U.N.'s high profile peacekeeping division, where he focused on, among other things, issues in Iraq and Asia. Four years later he was appointed secretary-general.
AWARDS
Nobel Peace Prize (2001)
PERSONAL
Annan has been married to his second wife, Nane Lagergren, a Swedish lawyer and judge, since 1984. Annan has two children, Ama and Kojo from his first marriage to a Nigerian woman that ended in divorce. Lagergren also has a daughter, Nina, from her previous marriage. Annan and Lagergren live in New York.
