CEO Global Environment Facility
Naoko Ishii is the CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), an independently operating financial organization that provides grants for projects related to the global environment. Prior to this, she served as Deputy Vice Minister of Finance of Japan. For nearly half of her career, Ms. Ishii has served in international assignments outside of Japan, including at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. She also taught sustainable development and environment at Keio University. She has published numerous papers and several books, two of which were awarded by Suntory Prize (1990) and Okita Memorial Prize for International Development Research (2004). She is the inaugural recipient of the 2006 Enjoji Jiro Memorial Prize. She holds a BA and a PhD from the University of Tokyo.
