Patricia Francis

Patricia R. Francis is a global leader in trade, development and investment, having led private sector, government and international organisations to engage informal sectors, women and SMEs in international trade.

She served as Assistant Secretary General and Executive Director of the International Trade Centre from 2006 to 2013, and as President of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) from 1995 to 2006. In 2016 she headed the UN Secretary General's High-Level Panel on Women's Economic Empowerment, and from 2018 to 2020 she was Special Advisor to the Executive Director of UN Women.

She chairs Jamaica's Trade Facilitation Task Force and serves as a director of the Alligator Head Foundation and the Rose Town Foundation for the Built Environment. She has been a member of the UK House of Lords All-Party Parliamentary Group on Commonwealth trade and poverty alleviation and of the Eminent Persons Group reviewing the future relations of the British Commonwealth.