Former Dunedin woman Amanda Ellis is returning to New Zealand from her United States-based job with the World Bank to take a senior post with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Ms Ellis has been appointed deputy secretary of development with the ministry, managing New Zealand's international aid and development programme and advising the Government on international development issues.
A former pupil at Columba College and Bayfield High School, Ms Ellis since 2003 worked as lead specialist with the World Bank's Poverty Reduction and Economic Management programme in Washington DC.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) chief executive John Allen said with development issues in the Pacific being core to the ministry's work, it was an exciting time for Ms Ellis to lead the aid programme.
Ms Ellis graduated in 1984 from the University of Otago with honours in Economics and French and after further study at the East West Centre in Hawaii and a job with the Central Bank of Iceland, she joined MFAT in 1988, with roles in New Zealand and in New Caledonia.
She joined Westpac 10 years later as communications head, then oversaw the launch of a Women in Business Unit before joining the World Bank in 2003.
She is to take up her new Wellington-based role in July.
