Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (The Iron Lady)

President of Liberia (since 2006) and Africa's first female President

Date of Birth: 29/10/1938
Place of Birth: Monrovia

Education: Economics, College of West Africa, Monrovia, 1948-55; Accounting, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States, 1961-64; Master of Public Administration, Harvard University, USA, 1969-71.

Career: Assistant Minister of Finance, 1972-73; Minister of Finance in the government of President William Tolbert, 1979-1980; Director, CitiBank, Nairobi, Kenya 1983-85; Director, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Africa, Washington DC, 1992-97; President of Liberia, 2005 to date.

Commentary: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf beat her rival, ex-soccer star George Manneh Weah, with a 20 percent margin of more than 150,000 votes in the presidential elections on 8 November 2005 after running in 1985 and 1997. Known as the 'Iron Lady', Johnson-Sirleaf is often compared to the United Kingdom's former Premier Margaret Thatcher.

Her career in financial institutions has earned her many Western friends and her appearance at the funeral in October 2005 of Nigeria's First Lady, Stella Obasanjo, won her a private audience with President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Johnson-Sirleaf has bridged the gap between Congo, the Americo-Liberians, descended from freed slaves, and the indigenous Liberians who make up most of the population.