BIO
Ms Rebeca Grynspan is UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) Secretary-General since 2021. Unanimously elected as Ibero-American Secretary-General in 2014. In 2010 she was named Under Secretary General of the United Nations (UN) and Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). From 2006 to 2010, she was UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms Grynspan served as Vice-President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. She was also Minister of Housing, Minister Coordinator of Economic and Social Affairs, and Deputy Minister of Finance. In addition, she has been a member of the High-Level Panel on Financing for Development, convened by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2001.
In June 2014 she was appointed Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a leading global organisation at the forefront of development and environmental policy research.