Dame Meg Taylor
When Dame Meg Taylor was appointed Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum in August 2014, she became the first woman to hold this post.
A national of Papua New Guinea, she began her professional life as Private Secretary to Chief Minister Michael Somare during self-government of Papua New Guinea, and then during his tenure as Prime Minister of an independent Papua New Guinea. She practiced law with the Office of the Public Solicitor and in the private sector, and served as a member of the Law Reform Commission.
She was Ambassador of Papua New Guinea to the United States, Mexico and Canada in Washington, DC from 1989-1994. In 2002, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Dame Meg has served on the board of the Bank of Papua New Guinea and on the boards of a number of companies in Papua New Guinea in the natural resources, financial, and agricultural sectors, as well as on the boards of companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. She has also served on the boards of international conservation and research organizations.
She was appointed to the post of Vice President and Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) of the World Bank Group in 1999 following a selection process led by civil society, industry, and academia. Having set up CAO, which is a key part of the governance structure of the World Bank Group, Meg Taylor led the office for 15 years and established a rich body of work. CAO provides independent accountability and recourse for communities impacted by projects supported by the private sector arms of the World Bank Group - the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). Through her leadership, CAO has become internationally recognized for its cutting edge work in addressing corporate-community conflict around the globe, with a model that has been replicated by other multilateral institutions. She concluded her term at CAO in August 2014.
In January 2016, Dame Meg was appointed to the High Level Steering Committee on Every Women Every Child by the Secretary General of the United Nations.