Kofi Annan was awarded the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations "for their work for a better organised and more peaceful world". Mr. Annan served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1997 to 2007. He is universally recognised as an advocate for human rights, the rule of law, and the revitalisation of the United Nations. He has been a key voice in the fight against HIV/AIDS and a leader of the multilateral response to the global terrorist threat.

As Secretary-General, Mr. Annan worked to bolster the United Nations’ relationship with businesses and civil society groups, sponsoring the Global Compact initiative to promote corporate social responsibility. He was instrumental in laying out the Millennium Development Goals, a strategy to meet the needs of the world's poorest by 2015. In 2005, Mr. Annan succeeded in persuading the United Nations to establish the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council, new intergovernmental bodies dedicated to global peace and welfare. Kofi Annan was also a chief proponent of the creation of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

In 1962, Mr. Annan took his first United Nations job with the World Health Organization in Geneva. Over his long career at the United Nations, Mr. Annan held a wide array of leadership posts, working in the World Health Organization and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, and engaging in numerous peacekeeping activities, culminating in service as Under-Secretary-General. He was the first Secretary-General to have been elected from within the ranks of the United Nations.

The recipient of a score of honorary degrees, Mr. Annan currently serves as the Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and on the board of the United Nations Foundation. He is also a member of the Global Elders and the Chairman of the Africa Progress Panel.