Caroline Lesser
Director for International Cooperation

Caroline is the Director for International Cooperation. She heads the Government sector team in WRI’s Global Development Department. In that capacity, she is responsible for managing and deepening the Institute’s strategic and funding partnerships with government agencies and multilateral institutions, and for coordinating organization-wide engagement efforts with these actors, in view of supporting WRI’s mission and increasing its impact.
Prior to joining WRI, Caroline worked as the Head of European and International Cooperation for the EU’s Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change, an intergovernmental initiative that gathers 24 European countries that work together to align their national research programming and co-finance transnational research programs.
Before that, Caroline worked for close to 12 years at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), first as a Policy Analyst and then as a Global Relations Advisor and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa desk. She then developed the OECD’s institutional relations and strategic programs with over 30 non-member governments and regional organizations in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Caroline holds a Masters’ degree in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Outside of work, she enjoys cycling, hiking and gardening with her husband, Stephane, and their two children, Benjamin and Julia.