Judy Edstrom (’66) has worked in positions of leadership, advocacy and analysis at the World Bank, UNICEF and RTI International/USAID in over 30 countries in Africa and Asia, including 12 years of professional residence in Kenya, South Africa and Indonesia as chief of mission or project. She has championed governance and human and social development throughout her career, with a substantive focus on local governance and social accountability.
Early in her career Edstrom served as director of UNICEF’s programs in the five French-speaking countries of East Africa, managing staff in the UNICEF regional office in Nairobi, Kenya and 4 country offices.
Her most impactful assignment during her 25-year career at the World Bank was as country director of the World Bank’s office in South Africa two years after the election of President Nelson Mandela.
Edstrom’s last overseas assignment, with RTI International, was in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she was Director of the Local Governance Support Program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development overseeing the largest USAID governance project at the time, a $62 million program, with 200 staff in 8 offices across Indonesia.
Currently, Edstrom is an independent consultant working on issues of governance, social development and social accountability, particularly in health service delivery. She is also active in lay leadership roles at her church and in its homelessness ministry.
Edstrom graduated summa cum laude from DePauw University in 1970 with a B.A. in European Economic and Political Studies and received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from DePauw University in 2005. At DePauw she was a member of several honorary societies and was named the Outstanding Teen-Ager of Indiana in 1968 by The Outstanding Americans Foundation. She spent her junior year in Geneva, Switzerland, with the Sarah Lawrence College Abroad Program where she was named the Most Outstanding Student. Edstrom earned her master’s in international affairs from Columbia University in 1972 where she continued to serve in many leadership roles and receive several honors.
In high school, Edstrom was a member and an officer in most of her high school activities, including the National Honor Society, The Scarlette with her own column “Punchlines by Judy,” Thespians, Pep Club, the Trident, co-chair of the Prom Board, and an active member in her Methodist Youth Fellowship. Some of her many honors included the Elks Leadership Award, representing WLHS at Girls’ State, selection as one of three to win the 1966 Indiana High School Achievement Program Award, and being chosen for the Football Homecoming Court. In addition, Edstrom was active in Lafayette’s Junior Achievement Program where she earned many honors, including National Miss Junior Achievement (1966) which resulted in an appearance in Seventeen Magazine’s issue on Outstanding Teen-Agers.
Her favorite memory of high school was her 6 weeks in Aix en Provence, France, after her junior year. Other fond memories include home football and basketball games and the mixers that followed the home games. She also enjoyed having the leading roles in school plays her junior and senior years.
Her favorite classes were speech with Bob Deutsch, U.S. History with Joe Krause, French class with Rolande ErSelcuk, and English class with Sandra Johnson.
“The most important gift my West Lafayette education gave me was the corps of outstanding teachers. Without exception, they were committed to our getting the best possible education.”