Ambassador Martin Kimani. PhD, EBS, CBS
Ambassador Martin Kimani, PhD, is President and CEO of The Africa Center. To this role he brings deep experience spanning finance, conflict resolution, security, and diplomacy, alongside a demonstrated commitment to the role of museums and the arts in fostering transformative dialogue on reimagining Africa's relationship with itself and the world.
He served as Kenya's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2021-2024), where he held the positions of President of the Security Council and President of the Executive Board for the UN Development Programme, the UN Office for Project Services, and the UN Population Fund. He continues to serve as as a member of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, continuing his engagement with multilateral institutions and global advocacy.
His contributions to regional peace and security include impactful mediation in Kenya, South Sudan, and the Great Lakes region. During this period, he also served as Kenya's Special Envoy for Countering Violent Extremism and Director of the National Counter Terrorism Centre. In this capacity, he led a comprehensive reform of Kenya's counter-terrorism architecture, introducing innovative approaches to prevent terrorist recruitment and establish pathways for disengagement, while strengthening multi-agency cooperation that earned global recognition as a center of excellence.
Earlier in his public service, he served as Kenya's Permanent Representative to the UN Environment Programme and UN Human Settlements Programme, and directed the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism. His commitment to Pan-African solidarity is exemplified in his role as the President's Special Envoy for the Commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans, where he authored the pivotal African Union Resolution on the subject in February 2019.
His career began in New York in the 1990s working on a currency hedge fund, followed by time in London advising underwriters on political risk—experiences that provided foundational insights into global financial markets and their intersection with political dynamics.
Ambassador Kimani holds a PhD in War Studies from King's College London and a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of New Hampshire. His service has been recognized with Kenya's Chief of the Order of the Burning Spear (CBS) and Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear (EBS). He also received the German Africa Foundation's Honorary Award in 2022. He is a Carnegie Distinguished Fellow 2024-2025 at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs' Institute of Global Politics, Distinguished Fellow at New York University's Center on International Cooperation (in which he was Executive Director briefly in 2024), and serves on the Board of the International Rescue Committee. He is also a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Throughout his career, he has engaged deeply with cultural institutions and discourse through contributions to the Paul Klee Museum in Bern and Frankfurt's Weltkulturen Museum. His writings on Africa's evolving global role have appeared in leading literary journals such as Granta, Kwani?, Farafina, and Chimurenga, as well as the New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and The Guardian.
Ambassador Martin Kimani. PhD, EBS, CBS