Catherine Bertini will be inducted into the Cortland County Hall of Fame next month.  She is a member of the inaugural class of inductees, an honor that recognizes her long and distinguished career in public service. Ms. Bertini currently resides in Cortland, not far from her hometown of Syracuse, New York.

Catherine Bertini is a distinguished fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. For five years she cochaired the Council's Global Agricultural Development Initiative.  She also chaired the Council's Girls in Rural Economies project as well as the Council’s work on domestic agriculture. Ms. Bertini is also a Professor of Public Administration and International Affairs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
 
She previously served as UN Under Secretary-General for Management (2003 to 2005) and as Executive Director of the UN World Food Program, the world's largest international humanitarian agency (1992 to 2002). Ms. Bertini also chaired the UN System Standing Committee on Nutrition.
 
For two years she was Senior Fellow, Agricultural Development, at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Before serving in the UN, Ms. Bertini was USDA Assistant Secretary for Food and Consumer Services, where she ran the nation's then $33 billion domestic food assistance programs. 
 
Ms. Bertini is the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate. She was a presidential appointee to the Board of International Food and Agricultural Development and is a Stuart Family Foundation board member. She is a board member of the Tupperware Brands Corporation and on the Leadership Council for IFPRI's Compact 2025.