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    1. Who We Are
      1. Governance

Presidents - past and present

H.E. Chief Emeka Anyaoku

HE Chief Emeka Anyaoku, President, WWF International

2002-present

His Excellency Chief Eleazar Chukwuemeka Anyaoku was elected 3rd  Secretary-General of the Commonwealth by Heads of Government in 1989, serving 2 consecutive terms from 1990 to 2000.

A Nigerian national, born at Obosi, he studied Classics at University College, Ibadan, and graduated in 1959 with a London University Honours Degree as a College Scholar. After 2 years with the Commonwealth Development Corporation, and 4 years in the Nigerian Foreign Service, including a period at the United Nations, he joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 1966.

Aside from a short term as Nigerian Foreign Minister in 1983, Chief Anyaoku spent 34 years with the Commonwealth and held the positions of Director for International Affairs, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General.

Chief Anyaoku has also been a member of the International Board of the United World Colleges and the Governing Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the Malaysian Commonwealth Studies Centre at Cambridge and the World Commission on Forestry.

He is now also currently President of The Royal Commonwealth Society and President of The Royal Africa Society, Vice-Chairperson Board of the South Centre, Geneva, and Trustee of the British Museum, UK.

The Hon. Mrs Sara Morrison

The Honourable Mrs Sara Morrison (Vice-President) talking to Mr André Hoffmann (Honorary Treasurer). Dr Claude Martin, WWF-International Director General (1993-2005), in the back. WWF International Board Meeting 12 December 2003, Glion, Switzerland.

2000-2001

Sara Morrison is a former Director of GEC and a non-Executive Directer of Carlton Television Ltd. and Kleinwort Charter Investment Trust PLC. She is a member of the UK Round Table for Sustainable Development, and sits on the Council of the Family Policy Studies Centre.

On 1 January 1998 Mrs Morrison became Chairperson of WWF-UK and was elected to the Board of WWF International. She was elected Vice-President of WWF International in November 2000 and served as Acting President in 2001. She is now Trustee Emeritus of WWF-UK and Vice President Emeritus of WWF International.

Prof. R.F.M. "Ruud" Lubbers

Portrait of Prof. R.F.M. Ruud LUBBERS

2000-2000

Ruud Lubbers served three terms as Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1982 and 1994, thus becoming the longest serving Dutch Prime Minister. A graduate of the Netherlands School of Economics, his political career began in 1973 when he joined the Den Uyl government as Minister for Economic Affairs.

He continued in Parliament as Senior Deputy Leader, and later Parliamentary Leader of the Christian Democratic Alliance. He became President of WWF International on 1 January 2000, but only served for one year as he was appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2001-2005.

Syed Babar Ali

Portrait of Syed Babar Ali

1996-1999

Babar Ali is a Pakistani national and was Managing Director of Packages Ltd. in Lahore from 1955-1973 and later became Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs & Planning. Babar Ali was first elected as a Trustee of WWF International in 1973.

He also served as Chairman of both the WWF International Advisory Council and the WWF Conservation Committee (later the Programme Committee), and was appointed Vice-President and Honorary Treasurer, before being elected President in 1996 to succeed HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. He retired as President of WWF International at the end of 1999 and is now WWF Vice-President Emeritus.

H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh

HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, former President of WWF from 1981-1996, at the 'Family Dinner' during the WWF Annual Conference 2002, Bristol, UK.

1981-1996

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh served as International President of WWF for 16 years until his retirement at the end of 1996, but his continuous involvement with the organization goes back to its foundation in 1961 when he was appointed President of WWF-UK. Now, as President Emeritus, he still works actively on behalf of the organization.

During these 40 years His Royal Highness' contribution to the organization has been inestimable - visiting WWF projects in over fifty countries on five continents, promoting conservation issues at the highest governmental and corporate levels and helping with fundraising and awareness promotion.

John H. Loudon

Mr. J.H. Loudon K.B.E. Portrait

1976-1981

Better known as "the Grand Old Man of Shell", John H. Loudon, a Dutchman, headed Royal Dutch Shell from 1951 to 1965. The son of former Shell Board President, Hugo Loudon, he joined the company in 1930, when he went to work in the Lake Maracaibo oilfields of Venezuela.

He was President of WWF from 1976 to 1981, and also a member of The 1001. John H. Loudon died in 1996 at the age of 90.

H.R.H. Prince Bernhard

HRH Prince Philipp and HRH Prince Bernhard (right) at the launching of WWF-US in 1962.

1962-1976

Known as the "Flying Prince of Conservation", HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands is the Founding President of WWF, a position he held from 1962 to 1976.

His Royal Highness also established the endowment fund The 1001: A Nature Trust in 1971, and continued to be deeply involved in WWF and its activities throughout the subsequent years. Prince Bernhard died in 2004 at the age of 93.

Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence. RSS/Web Feeds

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