Elissa Golberg is Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Italy, the Republic of Albania and the Republic of San Marino, High Commissioner to the Republic of Malta, and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations Agencies in Rome (International Fund for Agricultural Development – IFAD, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO, World Food Program – WFP). Prior to this position (from 2017 to 2021), she served as Director General for Strategic Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Canada (Global Affairs Canada – Affaires mondiales Canada), Leader of the Department of Innovation and Experimentation, and Head of the Performance and Results Management Division. Ambassador Golberg has held several leadership positions for the Government of Canada, including Director General of Development Innovation Partnerships (2015 to 2017), Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (Geneva) and to the Conference on Disarmament (2011 to 2015); Director General of the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force (2009 to 2011), and Canada’s Representative to Kandahar, Afghanistan (2008-2009).
Ambassador Golberg is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Committee on Disarmament Issues, and of the Advisory Board of the UN Central Emergency Fund. She is also a member of the Boards of the Center for Innovation in Global Governance (CIGI) and the Lewis Perinbaum Prize, as well as a member of the Advisory Board for the 2021 Canadian Forum for Impact Investment and Development.
Ambassador Golberg holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations. She has received the General Service Medal from NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the
Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the Public Administration Excellence Award and three Ministerial Awards for Excellence in Foreign Policy. She has been a Young World Leader at the World Economic Forum and has published articles addressing humanitarian issues and issues related to fragile states and public policy.