Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is a 67 year old divorced mother of four and grandmother of six. She is also President of Liberia, the first African female elected head of state.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was born in Monrovia, Liberia October 29, 1938. Her parents originally came from small villages, and were sent to Monrovia to be raised and educated as wards. Three of her grandparents were native Liberians; one grandfather was a German who stayed in Liberia after war was declared on Germany (WWI). Although she was raised and educated in Monrovia, Johnson-Sirleaf is familiar with rural life from vacations spent with her grandmothers. When she was 17, Ellen Johnson married James Sirleaf, whom she later divorced.

She graduated from the College of West Africa in Monrovia, studying accounts and economics. Mrs. Johnson-Sirleaf also received a BA in Accounting from Madison Business College in Madison, WI, USA, a diploma in economics from the University of Colorado and a Master’s of Public Administration from Harvard.

Johnson-Sirleaf is an experienced leader with a considerable background in finance and economics. Her first service to her country was as Assistant Minister of Finance under President William Tolbert.

While Tolbert was in office, in 1980, Liberia’s class tensions came to a head, and Samuel Doe seized power in a coup, and initiated a purge of Tolbert’s government, executing Tolbert and other officials in front of a firing squad. Johnson-Sirleaf escaped to Nairobi, Kenya, where she remained in exile, working for Citibank. She was one of only four of Tolbert’s cabinet members to escape execution.

In 1985, she returned to Liberia to run for the Senate. When she spoke out against Doe, however, she was accused of treason and sent to prison. She served only a little of her ten-year sentence before she was allowed to leave the country in exile, again to Nairobi.

Over the next several years, Liberia erupted in violent civil war. Doe was murdered by followers of Charles Taylor, who later became President of Liberia. Johnson-Sirleaf supported Taylor at first, but later denounced him.

During this period, Johnson-Sirleaf worked for the United Nations as Director of the UN Development Program Regional Bureau for Africa. In 1997 she again returned to Liberia to run against—and lose to—Charles Taylor.

In 2003, after war had again decimated the country, Taylor finally agreed to step aside and hand over the government to his vice president, Moses Blah, finally ending fourteen years of violent civil war.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was active in the transitional government, and in 2005 she was elected President of Liberia. She took office in January of 2006.

Johnson-Sirleaf is part of the Women Waging Peace network, and is considered a peace expert. She has won many awards for her humanitarian work, including the 2006 African Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger.