Kofi A. Annan was born in Kumasi, Ghana, in 1938. He was the seventh secretary general of the United Nations and is the founder and chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation. In 2001, he and the United Nations were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Annan was praised for being “pre-eminent in bringing new life to the organization.”

He joined the U.N. system in 1962 as an administrative and budget officer with the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) in Geneva. He later served with the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (U.N.E.C.A.) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the U.N. Emergency Force (U.N.E.F. II) in Ismailia, Egypt; the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (U.N.H.C.R.) in Geneva, and in various senior posts in New York dealing with human resources, budget, finance, and staff security. He also served as under secretary general for peacekeeping. In this role, Mr. Annan facilitated the repatriation of more than 900 international staff and other non-Iraqi nationals from Iraq in 1990. In addition, he served as special representative of the secretary general to the former Yugoslavia, and special envoy to NATO from 1995 to 1996.

Mr. Annan was U.N. secretary general from January 1997 to December 2006. One of his main priorities during this period was a comprehensive program of reform that sought to revitalize the United Nations and make the international system more effective. He consistently advocated human rights, the rule of law, the Millennium Development Goals, and Africa, and sought to bring the organization closer to the global public by forging ties with civil society, the private sector and other partners.

At Mr. Annan’s initiative, U.N. peacekeeping was strengthened in ways that enabled the United Nations to cope with a rapid rise in the number of operations and personnel. It was also at Mr. Annan’s urging that, in 2005, member states established two new intergovernmental bodies: the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council. Mr. Annan likewise played a central role in the creation of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the adoption of the U.N.’s first-ever counterterrorism strategy, and the acceptance by member states of the “responsibility to protect” people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. His Global Compact initiative, launched in 1999, has become the world’s largest effort to promote corporate social responsibility.

Mr. Annan undertook wide-ranging diplomatic initiatives. In 1998, he helped to ease the transition to civilian rule in Nigeria. In the same year, he visited Iraq to resolve an impasse between Iraq and the Security Council over compliance with resolutions on weapons inspections and other matters; an effort that helped avoid an outbreak of hostilities considered imminent at that time. In 1999, he was deeply involved in the diplomatic process that led to East Timor’s independence from Indonesia. He was responsible for certifying Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, and in 2006 his efforts contributed to securing a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Also in 2006, he mediated a settlement of the dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria over the Bakassi peninsula.

Mr Annan’s efforts to strengthen the U.N.’s management, coherence and accountability involved major investments in training and technology, the introduction of a new whistle-blower policy and financial disclosure requirements, and steps to improve coordination at country level.

With the Kofi Annan Foundation, Mr. Annan mobilizes political will to overcome threats to peace, development and human rights. He believes that the expertise and evidence needed to solve pressing problems such as poverty, violent conflict, and poor governance in most cases already exists. Progress is held back too often due to a lack of leadership and of the political will to use it to identify and deliver solutions.

He established the Kofi Annan Foundation in 2007 to mobilize leaders across all sectors to provide leadership where it is needed. The foundation works on the premise that there can be no long-term peace without development, and no sustainable development without peace. And that no society can long remain prosperous without the rule of law and respect for human rights.

The foundation works to identify new threats to peace and security and supports Mr. Annan’s preventive diplomacy and mediation activities. He chaired the Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security from March 2011 to September 2012. In January 2013, he launched the West Africa Commission on Drugs, as a response to the surge in drug trafficking and consumption in West Africa and the negative impact on security, governance and public health.

The foundation also works with select partner organizations to amplify Mr. Annan’s voice and catalyze effective action on the promotion of food and nutrition security, sustainable development, and support for good governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights.

In early 2008, he led the African Union’s Panel of Eminent African Personalities, which mediated a peaceful resolution to post election violence in Kenya. Today, Mr. Annan devotes considerable time to supporting democracy and elections with integrity. From February to August 2012, he was the U.N.–Arab League joint special envoy for Syria, mandated to seek a resolution to the conflict there.

Mr. Annan is the founding chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which works to improve food security and prosperity in Africa by promoting rapid, sustainable agricultural growth based on smallholder farmers. AGRA’s programs invest in soil regeneration and health, improved seeds, access to markets, and building capacity and investment throughout the agricultural value chain.

He chairs the African Progress Panel, which advocates at the highest level for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. The panel includes distinguished individuals from the public and private sectors and publishes an annual Africa progress report. He is also an active member of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders who work together for peace and human rights, and in 2013 was appointed its chair.

Mr. Annan is currently chancellor of the University of Ghana, and has held a number of positions at universities around the world. He is also board member, patron or honorary member of numerous organizations, including the United Nations Foundation.

Mr. Annan’s widely acclaimed memoir, “Interventions: A Life in War and Peace,” was published in 2012. He is married to Nane and between them they have three children.