Alumnus/Alumna of the Month

Carol Bellamy ’68

Read an Interview with Carol Bellamy.

Carol Bellamy assumed the leadership of World Learning on May 16, 2005, having recently 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, democracy, social justice, and economic development through education, training, and field projects in over 100 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 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. Ms. Bellamy graduated from Gettysburg College in 1963. She was born and raised in the New York area.