María Fernanda Espinosa was the president of the United Nations General Assembly 2018–19, becoming the fourth woman and the first from Latin America and the Caribbean to hold the position. Espinosa is a distinguished academic, diplomat, politician, poet, and linguist who has also served in high-level government positions, including Ecuador’s minister of foreign affairs, trade and integration (2007–08 and 2017–18) and minister of national defense (2012–14). She has led regional and international negotiations on bilateral and multilateral issues for over a decade. Under her leadership, the Armed Forces underwent restructuring and modernization to adapt to the region´s geopolitical context and new risks and threats to national security, such as cybersecurity, drug trafficking, organized transnational crime, and natural disasters.

With over three decades of developing roles in academia, NGOs, international organizations, and the government, she has established herself as an expert in international relations, peace and security, sustainable development, climate change, gender equality, and the rights of indigenous peoples. She honed her skills in multilateral diplomacy and international political affairs, with key roles at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (UICN), where she served as an advisor on biodiversity and climate change policy (1999–2005) and later as regional director (2005–07). She represented Ecuador at the United Nations as the first female Ambassador in New York (2008–09) and Geneva (2014–17).

Today, Espinosa continues to hold several influential positions in the global arena. These include member and executive director of GWLvoices; president of the Cities Alliance; member of the board of trustees of the International Crisis Group and the board of trustees of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center; co-chair of the Climate Governance Commission; member of the UN Secretary General´s Advisory Board on Human Security, the High-Level Advisory Council for the UN Alliance of Civilizations; and commissioner of the International Commission on the Economics of Water.

She has received many awards, including the “Eleanor Roosevelt Award” from the United Nations Association of the United States (2022), the Sir Brian Urquhart Award from the UN Association of the United Kingdom for her “Distinguished Service to the UN” (2021), the “5th Sun Award” for her “outstanding contribution to advance the agenda of the rights of Indigenous Peoples” (2021), and the Rehabilitation International Award for Outstanding Achievements in Innovation “for her innovative work advancing the rights of persons with disabilities globally” (2019). She was also declared one of the 100 most inspiring and influential women globally by the BBC (2019).