Renowned global economist and Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Cressey Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the world’s largest anti-fraud organisation based in the United States.
The Cressey Award, named after legendary US criminologist and ACFE co-founder Dr. Donald Cressey, stands as the organisation’s highest honour — recognising individuals whose lifelong work has significantly advanced the detection and deterrence of fraud across the globe.
Okonjo-Iweala, celebrated for her bold reforms and principled leadership, becomes the latest in a distinguished line of global figures to receive the award. The ACFE cited her “relentless pursuit of integrity” and “extraordinary contributions to global fraud prevention” as the basis for this year’s honour.
With a career spanning over four decades, Okonjo-Iweala has consistently blazed trails. She made history as the first woman and first African to head the WTO. Her tenure as Nigeria’s Finance Minister — which she held twice — is marked by aggressive anti-corruption efforts and her key role in securing Nigeria’s landmark $30 billion debt relief from the Paris Club.
Her international résumé includes 25 years at the World Bank, where she rose to the rank of Managing Director of Operations. She has also held high-level positions at Lazard Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank, and Twitter Inc., and has worked extensively with the African Union and World Health Organization during the COVID-19 pandemic as a special envoy.
A formidable voice in global health and development, Okonjo-Iweala served as chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and co-chaired the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. She also played a critical role in the founding of the COVAX Facility, which helped deliver vaccines to lower-income countries.
Over the years, her impact has been recognised with numerous awards and honours. She is a two-time honoree of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People”, an eight-time Forbes “Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World”, and was named Forbes African of the Year in 2020.
In recent years, she was awarded The Kiel Institute’s Global Economy Prize, the Collar of the Order of Timor Leste, Brazil’s Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco, and Nigeria’s own Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON). She also holds 22 honorary degrees from top universities worldwide.
Okonjo-Iweala earned her bachelor’s degree in economics, Magna Cum Laude, from Harvard University, followed by a Ph.D. in regional economics and development from MIT. She is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Global Public Leader at Harvard Kennedy School.
An accomplished author, she has penned numerous works including Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines — an unflinching account of her anti-corruption battles — and Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons.
ACFE lauded her as “bold, resilient and accountable” — a leader of global stature and a role model for women across the world.
The Cressey Award will formally be presented to Okonjo-Iweala during the ACFE’s 36th Annual Global Fraud Conference, taking place from June 22 to 27, 2025, in the United States.
