Who: Managing Director, World Bank (as of December 1, 2007); former Finance Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria (2003-2006).

Current Residence: Potomac, MD

Hometown: Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, Nigeria

Spotlight: World Bank president Robert Zoellick recently chose the charismatic Nigerian economist for the second-highest position at the Bank. As one of three Managing Directors, Okonjo-Iweala—herself a blogosphere favorite for Zoellick’s job after the scandal-plagued exit of Paul Wolfowitz— will oversee the Bank’s projects in South Asia, Europe, Central Asia, and Africa. She brings a formidable resume: over twenty years’ experience as a World Bank economist, a stint at the Brookings Institution as a Distinguished Fellow, and her brilliant turn as Nigeria’s finance minister.

Tale of the Tape: Although oil-rich Nigeria, the most populous nation in sub-Saharan Africa, is mired in conflict and corruption, Okonjo-Iweala insists it can become a continental powerhouse. In Nigeria she earned the nickname Okonjo-Wahala, or Trouble Woman, for her aggressive anti-corruption measures. Among her office’s accomplishments:

• Negotiated with the Paris Club to cancel $18 billion of Nigeria’s $30 billion debt, and paid off the remaining balance.
• Detached government budgeting from fluctuations in the price of oil, and tripled reserves from $7 billion to $20 billion.
• Cracked down on internet scams that were hurting Nigeria's reputation abroad.

Crystal clear: In 2004, Okonjo-Iweala publicized the state-by-state distribution of national oil wealth. Newspapers sold out when these figures first appeared. “People got so excited saying, 'So my local government gets $300,000 a month. How come there is no chalk in the schools, the teachers haven't been paid, and there are holes in my road?'"

Rock star: Bono, who has worked with Ngozi-Iweala as part of the debt AIDS trade Africa (DATA) foundation, said at a recent award dinner that “She's the kind of leader we all want to work for. Ngozi, we love you.”

Kids: Ngozi and husband Ikemba, a surgeon, have contributed four offspring to the Harvard tribe: Onyi (A.B. ’02), currently a sixth year M.D.-Ph.D student at Harvard Medical School; Uzodinma (A.B. ’04), a novelist and first-year at Columbia Medical School; and current undergrads Okechukwu (’06-‘08) and Uchechi (’09).

Culture freeze: In her senior year, Okonjo-Iweala told the Crimson, "Here, you meet someone in class, you talk for ten minutes, then you see them the next day and they pass right by you. At home, you see someone and you stop to talk."

Follow the $$$: At the World Bank, Okonjo-Iweala will likely deepen her involvement in the Stolen Assets Recovery (STAR) initiative, a program to trace loot that corrupt leaders store overseas. “If we bring the money back for these countries,” she said at a TED conference earlier this year, “it could do more than all the foreign aid put together.”