Los Angeles, Ca., USA - December 10, 2013, Los Angeles, Ca., USA - Global nutrition company, Herbalife announced the appointment of Maria Otero to the company's board of directors.
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Ms. Otero joins as an independent Director. Ms. Otero is Humanitarian, Business Leader and Former U.S. Under Secretary of State. She currently serves on the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the boards of Kresge Foundation, Public Welfare Foundation and Development Alternatives Inc..
She has chaired the board of Bread for the World, and also served on the boards of the Calvert Foundation, U.S. Institute for Peace, the Inter-American Foundation and BRAC in Bangladesh.
In her early career, she became a program officer at the Inter-American Foundation and worked for five years at the Center for Population and Development Activities. She also worked as an economist for Latin America and the Caribbean in the Women in Development Office of USAID.
In 1986, Ms. Otero joined Accion, one of the first micro lending organizations in the world, as country director in Honduras. She returned to the United States in 1989 to start and direct the Washington, D.C., office.
In that position, she worked with the U.S. government and nonprofits to develop policies that helped families in the developing world earn money through small businesses. She was named Accion's vice president in 1994, and president and CEO of Accion International six years later.
In 2000, President Clinton appointed Ms. Otero to the board of the United States Institute of Peace, where she served for eight years. In 2006 she was appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan to the U.N. Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors. In June 2009, she was nominated to serve as under secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs, which made her the highest ranking Hispanic official at the State Department, and the first Latina under secretary in its history.
In this position, Otero was charged with helping shape the State Department's positions on human rights, climate change, global health, refugees, trafficking in persons and women's issues. She oversaw the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor; the Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Scientific Affairs; the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration; the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons; and the Office of the Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary.
On January 17, 2012, Secretary Clinton named Ms. Otero as under secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, a newly created office and position at the State Department. During her time at the Department of State, Under Secretary she also served as the President's Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues.
Ms. Otero's awards and recognition include selection by Newsweek in October 2005 as one of the United States' 20 most influential women; Hispanic Business Magazine's ‘Elite Women of 2007'; Notre Dame University's Distinguished Service in Latin America Award; National Council of la Raza Graciela Olivarez Award; and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. ■