Patricia Francis

UN Women
Special Advisor

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Patricia R. Francis, CD,  a leader in global trade and development, is Special Advisor to the Executive Director of UN Women on Change Management. She is the former Assistant Secretary General and Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (“ITC”), a joint agency of the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations. Prior to joining the ITC, Mrs. Francis served as the president of JAMPRO (Jamaica Trade and Invest).  She also served twice as the President of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies, the China-Caribbean Business Council, the Commonwealth’s Eminent Persons Group, the African Caribbean & Pacific (“ACP”) Eminent Persons Group which reviewed the ACP future relationships with the European Union  2013-2016.  In 2016 she was appointed head of the UN Secretary-Generals High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment.  Mrs. Francis currently serves on the advisory boards of the IESE Graduate Business School, B & D Trawling Limited, Jamaica Producers Group, Portland JSX and is Chairman of the Government of Jamaica Trade Facilitation Task Force.   In 2006 she was conferred with the Commander of the Order of Civil Merit by the Government of Spain, and in 2015 was conferred with the Order of Distinction in the Class of Commander by the Government of Jamaica.