Carol
Bellamy assumed the leadership of World Learning in May
2005, having completed ten years as executive director
of UNICEF, the children’s agency of the United Nations.
A private, non-profit international organization, World
Learning promotes international and intercultural
understanding through education, training, exchange and
development activities in over 90 countries on five
continents around the globe.
During her tenure at
UNICEF, Ms. Bellamy brought a compassionate yet
pragmatic ethic to improving the lives of children. She
stepped up UNICEF’s work in emergencies, doubled its
funding, put the issues of child exploitation on the
global agenda and fought for health, protection and
education as fundamental rights of every child.
Prior to joining UNICEF,
Ms. Bellamy was Director of the United States Peace
Corps. Having served as a Peace Corps volunteer in
Guatemala from 1963 to 1965, she was the first former
volunteer to run the organization.
Ms. Bellamy has had a
distinguished career in the private sector. She was a
Managing Director of Bear Stearns & Co. from 1990 to
1993, and a Principal at Morgan Stanley and Co. from
1986 to 1990. Between 1968 and 1971 she was an
associate at Cravath, Swaine and Moore.
Ms. Bellamy also spent 13
years as an elected public official, including five
years in the New York State Senate (1973-1977). In
1978, she became the first woman to be elected President
of the New York City Council, a position she held until
1985.
Ms. Bellamy earned her
law degree from New York University in 1968. She is a
former Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard
University’s Kennedy School of Government, and an
honorary member of Phi Alpha Alpha, the U.S. National
Honor Society for Accomplishment and Scholarship in
Public Affairs and Administration. In 2004, MS. Bellamy
was named to Forbes Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful Women
in the World. Ms. Bellamy graduated from Gettysburg
College in 1963. She was born and raised in the New
York area.
